LABOR.  AND 
THE  RAILROADS 


t  LIBRARY   X| 
UNIVERSITy  OF 
CALIFORNIA 
SAN  DIEGO 


LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS.  Mmo,  $1.00 
net.  Postage  n  cents. 

CONFESSIONS  OF  A  RAILROAD  SIGNAL- 
MAN. Illustrated  with  photographs  of  typical 
wrecks.  i2mo,  i.oo  net.  Postage  10  cents. 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 
BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 


LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 


LABOR  AND  THE 
RAILROADS 


BY 


JAMES  O.  PAGAN 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  CONFESSIONS  OF  A 
RAILROAD  SIGNALMAN" 


BOSTON    AND   NEW   YORK 
HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 
press? 
1909 


COPYRIGHT,   1909,  BY  JAMES  O.  PAGAN 
ALL    RIGHTS   RESERVED 

Published  October  IQOQ 


CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTORY  :  THE  INDUSTRIAL  DILEMMA  i 

I.   LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS  5 

II.  THE  RAILROADS  AND  EDUCATION  28 

III.  THE  RAILROADS  AND  EFFICIENCY  OF 

SERVICE  56 

IV.'  THE  RAILROADS  AND  PUBLICITY  85 

V.  THE  CASE  OF  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  115 

VI.   LABOR  AND  RESPONSIBILITY  135 

VII.   LABOR,  AUTHORITY  AND  THE  RAILROADS  155 


LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

INTRODUCTORY 
THE  INDUSTRIAL  DILEMMA 

THE  great  social  problems  of  the  day,  such  as  those 
that  have  arisen  between  capital  and  labor,  the 
trusts  and  the  people,  the  railroad  employee  and 
the  railroad  manager,  are  being  treated  and  thought 
out  by  American  public  opinion  with  marked  hesi- 
tation. But  while  this  public  opinion  is  drifting 
around  in  a  sea  of  theories,  corporations  and  labor 
unions  know  just  what  they  want,  and,  for  the 
most  part,  how  to  secure  their  desired  concessions 
and  privileges.  In  this  way,  all  preconceived  no- 
tions of  the  fitness  of  things,  and  of  the  social 
results  to  be  expected  from  modern  industrial 
methods,  have  been  completely  upset.  Carried  off 
their  feet  by  well-directed  and  organized  assaults, 
political  economists  and  leaders  of  widely  different 
schools  of  thought  are  now  in  danger  of  losing 
their  bearings.  In  a  word,  the  situation  is  fast 
resolving  itself  into  a  great  social  and  industrial 
dilemma. 

In  a  general  way  this  dilemma  may  be  defined 


2  LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

as  the  difficulty  that  now  confronts  public  opinion 
when  it  is  called  upon  to  choose,  or  in  some  way  to 
draw  the  line,  between  the  interests  and  demands 
of  labor  and  the  corporations,  and  the  more  im- 
portant necessities  and  rights  of  society. 

In  this  country,  to  a  greater  extent,  perhaps, 
than  in  any  other,  public  opinion  should  be  termed 
popular  opinion,  consequently  it  is  very  human  and 
natural  in  its  characteristics.  To-day  it  is  radical, 
to-morrow  conservative,  but  at  all  times  it  has  its 
ear  to  the  ground  to  catch  lessons  from  history. 
While  at  times  it  may  appear  to  be  long-suffering 
and  indifferent,  it  is,  nevertheless,  very  slow  to 
forgive  an  injury.  This  is  the  teaching  of  instinct, 
which  is  as  noticeable  in  the  behavior  of  a  nation 
as  in  that  of  an  individual.  Just  at  present,  for  ex- 
ample, popular  opinion  cannot  make  up  its  mind 
to  deal  reasonably  with  corporations  and  managers. 
It  has  now  to  be  educated  to  treat  these  people 
fairly.  But  the  corporations  cannot  expect  the 
public  to  arrive  at  the  unassisted  conclusion  that 
their  business,  generally  speaking,  is  now  above- 
board  and  legitimate.  It  thus  becomes  their  duty 
to  advertise  and  demonstrate  these  facts.  Recon- 
ciliation is  certain  to  follow  frankness  and  pub- 
licity. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  the  student,  the  social 
improver,  and  the  mere  theorist,  the  industrial 


THE  INDUSTRIAL   DILEMMA  3 

situation  on  railroads  and  elsewhere  has,  of  late 
years,  been  thoroughly  analyzed  by  competent 
specialists,  and  the  literature  in  relation  to  it  is 
practically  endless.  But  just  what  the  worker  him- 
self has  to  say  about  it,  what  his  honest  opinions 
and  observations  amount  to  as  he  works  at  his  job, 
listens  to  the  conversation  of  his  fellows,  and 
draws  thoughtful  conclusions  from  every-day  prac- 
tical data,  is  as  yet  an  unwritten  chapter  in  the 
history  of  industrial  progress.  For  it  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  the  employees  on  the  railroads  are 
the  most  important  factors  in  the  situation  from 
every  point  of  view.  Their  opinions,  their  policies, 
their  behavior,  are  the  great  topics  to  be  con- 
sidered, socially,  financially,  and  industrially.  Out 
of  every  dollar  earned  by  the  railroads,  the  em- 
ployees, 1,700,000  of  them,  receive  forty-two  cents 
in  wages.  Consequently,  the  habits  of  thought,  the 
point  of  view  of  these  men,  their  actual  work  at 
the  present  day,  and  their  probable  behavior  and 
intentions  for  the  future,  are  matters  of  great  so- 
cial importance.  In  many  directions  the  opinions 
and  conclusions  of  these  men  may  be  unscientific 
and  contrary  to  the  ideas  of  people  who  study 
generalities,  but  a  careful  consideration  of  them  is" 
likely  to  convince  us  that  they  constitute  a  very 
fair  reflection  of  the  actual  state  of  affairs,  viewed 
from  a  practical  and  common-sense  standpoint. 


4  LABOR  AND   THE   RAILROADS 

However  this  may  be,  there  is  certainly  no  field  of 
industry  on  which  the  every-day  relations  that  ex- 
ist between  labor,  corporations,  and  public  opinion 
can  be  so  profitably  studied  as  on  American  rail- 
roads. 


LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

AN  engineman  of  my  acquaintance  leaves  his  home 
at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  completes  his 
day's  work  in  six  hours.  For  this  service  he  re- 
ceives from  four  to  five  dollars,  according  to  cir- 
cumstances. Some  enginemen  work  longer  hours 
and  receive  more  money  ;  but  anyway  you  look  at 
the  labor  or  the  wages,  the  conditions  leave  little 
to  be  desired.  With  hardly  any  exception  the  same 
satisfactory  state  of  affairs  is  to  be  found  in  nearly 
every  branch  of  the  train  service.  By  degrees, 
step  by  step,  from  a  comparatively  low  plane,  an 
almost  ideal  standard  of  wage  and  treatment  has 
been  arrived  at.  In  my  own  sixty-lever  signal- 
tower,  for  example,  within  the  past  few  years  the 
pay  has  been  run  up  from  thirteen  to  over  eighteen 
dollars  per  week,  and  the  working  day  has  been 
run  down  from  twelve  to  eight  hours.  Now,  among 
the  thousands  of  railroad  men  whose  material  con- 
dition I  have  been  describing,  there  is  but  one 
opinion  as  to  the  means  that  have  been  employed 
in  bringing  about  these  satisfactory  results  ;  and  I 
think  this  general  opinion  is  voiced  when  I  say 


6  LABOR  AND   THE  RAILROADS 

that  the  motive  power  employed  in  securing  these 
benefits  was  simply  and  actually  business  compul- 
sion. It  is  useless  to  assail  the  motives  or  per- 
sonality, either  of  corporations  or  of  labor  unions. 
The  leaders  of  these  bodies  are  fairly  typical  of 
twentieth-century  civilization.  In  their  business  re- 
lations, one  with  another,  they  take  what  they  can, 
and  give  what  they  are  compelled  to.  Of  course  there 
is  a  vein  of  kindliness  running  throughout  all  nego- 
tiations between  men  and  managers;  but  when  it 
comes  to  a  settlement  of  differences  concerning  dol- 
lars and  cents,  the  proceedings  are  governed  by  the 
strictest  code  of  current  business  principles.  In  a 
fair  and  honorable  way,  the  machinery  of  manage- 
ment is  pitted  against  the  machinery  of  the  labor 
organization,  and  the  weaker,  for  the  time  being, 
yields  to  the  pressure  of  superior  tactics  and  re- 
sources. 

But  the  point  to  be  emphasized  is  that  hard-drawn 
business  compulsion  is  the  sine  qua  non  of  progress 
as  regards  wages  and  similar  conditions,  and  is  the 
only  form  of  advice,  warning,  or  incentive  to  which 
corporations  and  labor  unions  pay  any  attention. 
For  a  number  of  years,  it  is  true,  railroad  managers 
have  been  trying  to  break  away  from  this  thralldom 
of  mechanical  methods,  but  from  lack  of  public  sup- 
port they  have  now  practically  abandoned  the  strug- 
gle, or  relegated  the  human  and  sympathetic  side 


LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS  7 

of  management  to  the  editors  of  the  railroad  maga- 
zines. This  is  a  very  uncomfortable  way  of  inter- 
preting industrial  conditions  and  relationships  on 
railroads,  but  the  evidence  upon  which  the  employee 
forms  his  impressions  of  the  mechanical  and  com- 
pulsory nature  of  his  wage-settlement  is  unmistak- 
able. That  power  is  privilege  is  nowhere  so  patent 
as  on  the  railroads  at  the  present  day. 

Within  a  short  distance  of  my  signal-tower  there 
is  a  crossing  at  grade.  The  man  in  charge  receives 
one  dollar  and  thirty-five  cents  for  twelve  hours' 
work.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  crossing  man  holds 
a  very  responsible  position.  Alertness,  attention  to 
duty,  and  presence  of  mind  are  absolutely  essential 
for  the  proper  protection  of  travelers  on  trains  and 
on  foot.  There  are  actually  more  people  injured  and 
lives  lost  at  these  crossings  than  on  trains,  or  in 
any  way  connected  with  trains.  Therefore,  good 
men  and  good  pay  should  be  the  rule  at  these  cross- 
ings. Increased  efficiency  of  service  would  probably 
make  up  for  the  additional  expense.  Up  to  date, 
however,  it  never  has  entered  into  the  heads  of  well- 
paid  enginemen,  conductors,  and  others  to  bestir 
themselves  in  the  interest  of  these  men.  Beginning 
with  the  management,  we  all  understand  that  they 
are  down,  to  stay  down  until  they  are  able  to  lift 
themselves.  For  years  these  men,  and  thousands  in 
other  departments,  have  been  waiting  for  the  con- 


8  LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

science  of  somebody,  or  anybody,  to  attend  to  their 
cases;  but  unfortunately  these  gatemen  are  unor- 
ganized, and  unable  to  organize,  and  there  is  nothing 
back  of  them  to  make  trouble  for  anybody. 

Such  is  only  one  of  numerous  object  lessons  which 
the  employee  has  constantly  before  him,  and  conse- 
quently he  may  be  pardoned  for  concluding  that 
actual  business  compulsion  is  your  only  wage-raiser. 
I  am  aware  that,  if  the  employee  took  time  to  look 
into  the  matter  more  carefully,  he  might  be  willing 
to  modify  this  opinion ;  but  his  every-day  life  is  more 
concerned  with  speaking  facts  than  with  the  philo- 
sophy of  the  subject,  and  actually,  at  the  present 
day,  his  leaders  give  him  no  time  to  take  his  bear- 
ings. In  season  and  out  of  season  they  stand  be- 
tween the  men  and  the  management.  They  empha- 
size and  extol  the  compulsory  method,  and  point  on 
all  sides  to  its  object  lessons  and  the  benefit  to  be 
derived  from  organized  effort  along  these  lines.  But 
this  simple  theory  of  business  compulsion,  this  cold- 
blooded material  interpretation  of  the  industrial  situ- 
ation on  our  railroads,  has  a  still  wider  significance. 

During  the  month  of  August,  1908,  in  the  state 
of  Massachusetts,  two  passenger  trains  at  different 
points  were  handled  faultlessly  for  thirty  or  forty 
miles  past  a  succession  of  electric  block-signals. 
Later,  with  the  same  crews,  these  trains  were  tele- 
scoped by  other  passenger  trains  on  a  track  where 


LABOR   AND  THE  RAILROADS  9 

these  safety  devices  were  not  in  operation.  The  cause 
of  these  accidents  was  short -flagging  and  reckless 
running.  On  the  roads  in  question  the  rules  in  regard 
to  block-signals  are  now  enforced ;  the  men  are  actu- 
ally compelled  to  live  up  to  them  ;  but  the  rules  in 
regard  to  reckless  running  and  short-flagging  are 
not  looked  upon  in  the  same  light  —  the  same  at- 
tention is  not  paid  to  them,  and  the  penalties  for 
violation  of  the  rules  are  by  no  means  so  impartially 
bestowed.  The  compulsory  method,  then,  is  not  only 
the  most  effectual  factor  in  wage-progress,  but  the 
principle  itself  is  found  to  affect  in  a  marked  degree 
the  operating  department.  To  secure  efficiency  and 
to  secure  satisfactory  conditions  of  pay  and  treat- 
ment, the  same  compulsory  methods  must  be  em- 
ployed. When  this  compulsory  method  proves  to  be 
insufficient  or  unworkable,  the  point  to  be  noticed 
is  that  there  is  actually  no  force,  principle,  or  senti- 
ment to  take  its  place  and  fulfill  its  duties  in  the 
situation  as  we  find  it  to-day. 

But  in  considering  the  condition  of  labor  on  the 
railroads,  we  find  ourselves  obliged  to  study  the 
employee  and  his  environment  from  a  wider  point 
of  view,  both  socially  and  historically ;  for  it  must 
be  evident  to  us  all  that  there  is  something  lacking 
in  this  hard-drawn  theory  of  business  compulsion 
in  industrial  life.  At  best  it  can  be  looked  upon  only 
as  a  temporary  state  of  affairs.  It  must  be  utterly 


io          LABOR   AND   THE   RAILROADS 

repugnant  to  the  solid  Christian  sense  of  the  com- 
munity, for  it  is  a  severe  reflection  on  our  up-to-date 
civilizing  methods,  that  the  condition  of  the  em- 
ployees on  railroads  and  the  efficiency  of  the  service 
must  wholly  depend,  in  the  future,  upon  hard-and- 
fast  rules  and  agreements.  It  is  surely  unreasonable 
that  to  safeguard  the  interests  of  the  public,  the 
corporation,  and  the  men,  the  minutest  details  and 
arrangements  will  have  to  be  stipulated  in  the  bond. 
Is  this  the  final  word  that  labor  and  the  corpora- 
tions have  to  say  to  twentieth-century  public  opin- 
ion? I  think  not.  Nevertheless,  personally  speak- 
ing, and  looking  backwards  over  nearly  thirty  years' 
service  on  the  railroads,  I  am  conscious  that  my 
personal  liberty  and  freedom  of  action,  my  actual 
ability  to  do  the  wrong  thing  and  escape  detection, 
has  increased  fifty-fold,  while  the  ability  of  the 
management  and  the  public  to  cope  with  and  pro- 
vide for  the  changed  conditions  has  been  decreas- 
ing in  about  the  same  ratio. 

The  evolution  of  this  state  of  affairs  forms  a  cu- 
rious and  instructive  chapter  in  industrial  history. 
This  history  embraces  the  methods  and  ideals  of 
progress  in  all  civilized  countries,  and  perhaps  the 
most  curious  feature  in  regard  to  industrial  progress, 
both  in  this  country  and  abroad,  is  that  the  social 
conscience,  the  very  factor  that  is  now  being  elimi- 
nated from  our  industrial  schedules,  is  and  has  been 


LABOR  AND  THE   RAILROADS           n 

responsible  for  the  situation  as  we  find  it  to-day. 
This  is  by  no  means  a  reflection  on  the  splendid 
work  of  the  social  conscience  in  uplifting  humanity. 
On  the  contrary,  it  is  a  reflection  on  those  employees 
and  corporations  who  either  are  ignorant  of  its  his- 
tory or  have  forgotten  their  social  indebtedness.  A 
glance  at  the  great  social  movement  in  this  country 
for  the  betterment  of  industrial  and  other  conditions 
should  make  this  clear  to  us. 

Disregarding  the  earlier  years  of  American  his- 
tory, we  find  ourselves,  say  from  183010  1870,  in  a 
period  of  great  mental  and  industrial  activity.  In 
those  days  narrowness  of  mind  was  beginning  to 
give  way  to  conceptions  of  duty  that  embraced  hu- 
manity at  large.  Man  in  relation  to  the  Infinite  still 
retained  his  central  position,  but  man  in  relation  to 
his  fellows  began  to  acquire  considerable  relative 
importance.  For  centuries,  with  utmost  compla- 
cency, Christian  people  have  contented  themselves 
with  simply  reading  and  rereading  the  story  of  Cain 
and  Abel,  until  it  would  almost  seem  as  if  the  ques- 
tion, "Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?"  had  become  a 
too  commonplace  consideration  for  practical  appli- 
cation in  society.  While  in  countless  ways  indi- 
viduals have  done  noble  work,  the  collective  mind 
of  the  community  seems  to  have  been  practically 
asleep  to  general  questions  of  humanity  until,  com- 
paratively speaking,  a  quite  recent  date. 


12  LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

In  the  period  of  American  history  to  which  I 
refer,  the  thinkers  among  us  woke  up  and  found 
themselves  confronted  with  numerous  social  and 
moral  enigmas.  Man's  inhumanity  to  man  was 
brought  to  light  and  discussed  with  merciless  free- 
dom ;  an  era  of  common  sense  set  in  ;  its  logic  was 
applied  with  cold  and  impartial  severity  to  all  sorts 
of  inhuman  customs  and  habits,  and  especially  to 
atrocious  labor  conditions  that  had  prevailed  in 
society  unnoticed  and  unchecked  for  centuries.  It 
was  a  long-drawn-out  battle,  for  the  very  instincts 
of  people  were  more  or  less  saturated  with  supersti- 
tion—  but  the  emancipation  of  the  human  mind 
went  on  apace.  The  horizon  of  men's  sympathies 
grew  ever  wider  and  brighter;  common  sense  ap- 
plied to  religion  gave  us  a  new  Heaven  ;  common 
sense  applied  to  our  daily  duties  and  responsibilities 
gave  us  a  new  Earth.  This  new-born  social  con- 
science introduced  new  conceptions  and  new  stand- 
ards into  human  affairs.  The  abolition  of  slavery,  the 
humanizing  of  prison  life,  the  considerate  treatment 
of  lunatics  and  paupers,  the  conscientious  inspec- 
tion of  ships,  factories,  and  tenement  houses,  are 
only  a  few  of  the  reforms  that  remind  us  of  the 
widespread  influence  of  the  social  and  spiritual 
conscience.  In  this  way,  by  means  of  organized 
sympathy,  labor  in  particular  was  indebted  to  the 
people  for  the  social  start  and  uplift,  the  magnifi- 


LABOR   AND  THE   RAILROADS  13 

cent  growth  and  fruition  of  which  we  see  around  us 
to-day. 

But  of  late  years,  in  the  industrial  world,  the  fun- 
damental forces  at  work  in  these  great  civilizing 
movements  have  undergone  remarkable  changes. 
The  appeal  for  better  conditions  in  the  name  of  hu- 
manity has  been  displaced  by  the  demand  for  rights 
in  the  name  of  justice.  With  the  assertion  of  these 
principles  and  the  appeal  to  justice  as  universal 
arbiter,  the  industrial  dilemma  begins  to  manifest 
itself  in  concrete  form.  How  to  limit,  define,  and 
harmonize  the  rights  of  society,  of  corporations, 
and  of  labor  unions,  is  to-day  the  paramount  in- 
dustrial problem.  It  has  divided  the  country  into 
two  camps,  — those  whose  duty  it  is,  politically  and 
otherwise,  to  protect  the  interests  of  the  whole 
body,  and  those  who  are  daily  becoming  more  and 
more  absorbed  in  multiplying  the  rights  or  privi- 
leges of  sections.  The  press  and  the  politicians  at 
the  present  day  are  handling  the  whole  subject 
with  extreme  caution,  and,  to  save  appearances,  all 
concerned  are  now  devoting  themselves,  with  con- 
siderable energy,  to  the  study  of  conditions.  It  is 
therefore  particularly  desirable,  at  the  present  day, 
that  those  who  are  in  possession  of  the  statistics 
and  understand  these  conditions  should  be  per- 
suaded to  speak  out  and  explain  their  significance. 

For  example,  railroad  managers  are  well  aware 


14  LABOR  AND  THE   RAILROADS 

that  within  the  past  few  years,  in  the  midst  of  the 
body  politic  of  the  railroads  there  has  been  evolved 
an  empire  within  an  empire,  whose  consistent  pol- 
icy is  and  has  been  the  accumulation  of  power  for 
its  own  exclusive  use.  In  plain  English,  this  is  the 
empire  of  labor.  Under  the  circumstances,  consid- 
ering the  history  of  railroad  management  in  the 
past,  this  state  of  affairs  need  occasion  but  little 
surprise.  Its  principles  are  in  line  with  the  com- 
monplace ethics  of  commercial  life  with  which  we 
are  everywhere  surrounded.  When  a  man  goes  into 
business  it  is  for  the  purpose  of  making  money  for 
himself,  and  not  for  his  neighbors.  Such,  at  any 
rate,  is  the  first  stage  of  his  progress.  It  is  exactly 
the  same  with  corporations  and  labor  unions.  The 
selfish  stage  is  the  first  stage,  and  consideration 
for  others  is  almost  wholly  dependent  upon  the  es- 
tablishment of  your  own  structure  upon  firm  founda- 
tions. The  empire  of  labor,  then,  as  I  am  describing 
it,  has  evolved  in  a  very  natural  way ;  and  society, 
by  means  of  public  opinion,  is  now  called  upon  to 
influence,  control,  and  guide  the  succeeding  stages 
of  its  development. 

Compared  with  this  actual  and  constantly  in- 
creasing force  of  labor,  the  theories  and  proposi- 
tions of  philosophers  and  social  betterers  have  but 
little  significance.  Socialism  may  come  and  may  go, 
but  labor  and  its  organization  are  marching  on,  not 


LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS  15 

indifferent  to,  but  nevertheless  quite  independent 
of,  these  ideas  and  associations  that  are  constantly 
at  work  for  the  betterment  of  society  in  general. 
If  socialism  desires  to  assist  labor,  well  and  good. 
That  is  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  the  matter  so  far 
as  labor  is  concerned.  Similarly,  if  municipal  or  pub- 
lic ownership  in  any  form  can  be  shown  to  bene- 
fit the  worker  without  interfering  with  his  organi- 
zation and  his  schedules,  its  claims  and  theories  will 
receive  consideration.  In  other  words,  labor  leaders, 
more  especially  on  the  railroads,  are  now  preaching 
the  gospel  of  separation.  They  avoid  everything  in 
the  nature  of  an  alliance,  even  in  the  interests  of 
public  safety,  and  day  by  day  their  ability  and  in- 
tentions to  stand  alone  become  more  pronounced. 

But  it  must  not  be  taken  for  granted  that  the  rank 
and  file  of  railroad  men  have  initiated,  or  unani- 
mously acquiesce  in,  this  line  of  thought  or  action. 
Such  broad  issues  are  not  thought  out  or  de- 
cided upon  down  below ;  matters  of  this  nature 
work  down  and  not  up,  and  in  this  way  the  ordi- 
nary worker  is  frequently  committed  to  the  support 
of  a  policy  of  which,  as  an  individual,  he  is  some- 
what ashamed.  Only  too  frequently,  however,  the 
material  benefits  derived  from  a  certain  policy  are 
allowed  to  outweigh  our  conscientious  scruples.  I 
repeat,  then,  the  principle  of  separation  and  isola- 
tion is  not  due  to  any  expressed  desire  or  agitation 


16          LABOR   AND  THE   RAILROADS 

of  the  rank  and  file,  but  is  due  to  the  general  policy 
of  the  leaders.  Thus  we  find  the  labor  situation  on 
the  railroads  dominated  by  two  or  three  of  the  high- 
est officials  of  the  labor  unions.  The  managers  of 
railroads,  if  so  disposed,  could  easily  corroborate 
this  statement,  but  a  single  illustration  will  give  us 
a  good  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  evidence. 

During  the  spring  of  the  year  1908,  business  fell 
to  a  very  low  ebb  on  the  Boston  and  Maine  Rail- 
road :  the  side  tracks  were  blocked  with  idle  cars, 
and  engines  by  the  dozen  were  rusting  at  the 
roundhouses.  Equipment  of  all  sorts,  that  should 
have  been  sent  to  the  shops  for  repairs,  was  put 
into  storage  tracks,  and  over  all  a  general  retrench- 
ment and  reduction  of  expenses  was  in  order. 

Among  other  methods  resorted  to,  the  salaries 
of  the  officials  above  the  grade  of  one  hundred  dol- 
lars per  month  were  subjected  to  a  substantial  cut- 
down.  Short  time  was  the  order  of  the  day  in  the 
shops  and  out  on  the  road,  crews  were  disbanded, 
trains  were  abolished,  and  everything  in  the  nature 
of  a  superfluity  was  swept  into  the  realm  of  the 
unemployed,  in  a  desperate  effort  to  shave  the  pay- 
rolls. But,  as  time  passed,  conditions  instead  of 
improving  dropped  from  bad  to  worse,  and  July, 
the  month  when  the  Boston  and  Maine  is  called 
upon  to  give  an  account  of  itself  in  the  shape  of 
dividends  and  fixed  charges,  was  almost  in  sight. 


LABOR   AND  THE   RAILROADS  17 

Consequently,  as  a  final  resort,  the  management 
hit  upon  the  plan  of  taking  the  employees  in  every 
department  into  its  confidence.  Not  only  the  heads 
of  the  organizations,  but  the  rank  and  file  of  the 
men,  had  the  situation  explained  to  them  by  com- 
petent officials.  The  proposition  was  very  simple. 
The  men  were  asked  to  consent  to  a  five  per  cent 
cut-down  for  a  period  of  three  months.  To  an  in- 
sider taking  notes  from  day  to  day  it  soon  became 
evident  that  the  rank  and  file  of  the  men,  regard- 
less of  their  occupations,  thoroughly  understood  the 
situation.  The  argument  that  railroad  labor  should 
bear  with  railroad  capital  the  burden  imposed  by 
the  hard  times  was  generally  appreciated.  So  far 
as  my  observations  extended,  it  seemed  to  me  that 
the  men  were  glad  to  be  treated  confidentially  in 
the  matter.  As  individuals  speaking  for  themselves, 
they  admitted  that  the  prosperity  and  interests  of 
the  corporation  could  not  possibly  be  separated  or 
distinguished  from  their  own.  They  were  willing  to 
be  reminded  that,  when  business  was  good  and  the 
road  was  in  a  flourishing  condition,  their  wages  had 
been  increased  over  and  over  again,  in  a  legitimate 
and  recognized  manner,  through  the  efforts  of  their 
organizations,  and  therefore  the  contention  of  the 
management  was  unanswerable,  that  it  was  the 
duty  of  employees  to  lend  a  helping  hand  now  that 
the  tide  had  turned. 


i8  LABOR   AND   THE   RAILROADS 

Supported  by  these  ideas  and  principles,  a  sort 
of  canvass  of  the  matter  was  initiated  all  over  the 
road.  Meetings  were  held,  committees  were  ap- 
pointed, considerable  expense  was  incurred,  and 
the  matter  was  finally  put  to  the  vote,  on  every 
division,  by  the  various  organizations.  The  result 
had  been  accurately  anticipated.  With,  I  think,  one 
exception,  the  organizations,  representing  nearly 
every  department  of  labor  on  the  Boston  and 
Maine  Railroad,  voted  by  heavy  majorities  to  ac- 
cept the  five  per  cent  reduction  under  the  terms 
and  conditions  which  had  been  explained  to  them 
by  the  president  of  the  road.  Up  to  this  point  ho 
suspicion  had  been  hinted  at  that  the  vote-taking 
was  a  conditional  affair,  subject  to  the  consent  of 
the  National  Organization  or  its  leaders.  It  was 
requested  and  taken  in  good  faith  as  a  matter  of 
internal  administration  and  adjustment  of  mutual 
interests  ;  but  the  result  of  the  vote  was  no  sooner 
made  known  than  the  whole  business  was  promptly 
vetoed  and  made  void  by  the  exercise  of  supreme 
authority.  It  is  not  necessary  to  pass  an  opinion  on 
the  necessity  for  this  action  in  the  political  or  other 
interests  of  railroad  labor  considered  as  a  factor 
isolated  from  the  public  interests.  The  points  for 
public  opinion  to  note  are  that  the  management 
was  humiliated,  that  the  referendum  was  a  farce, 
and,  in  particular,  that  the  ideas  of  the  men  and 


LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS           19 

their  leaders  in  regard  to  the  relations  that  should 
exist,  and  the  cooperation  that  should  be  permitted, 
between  employees  and  managers,  are  fundament- 
ally at  variance. 

But  so  far  as  the  public  interests  are  concerned, 
this  referendum  vote  of  the  Boston  and  Maine  Rail- 
road employees  has  a  still  wider  application  and 
lesson.  For  the  very  first  principles  of  sane  and 
safe  management  are  the  issues  at  stake.  In  plain 
English,  if  the  public  interests  are  to  receive  any 
recognition  whatever  in  the  metallic  constitution 
that  is  now  being  worked  out  between  railroad  cor- 
porations and  labor  leaders,  it  can  only  be  accom- 
plished by  unrestricted  communication  and  coop- 
eration between  the  rank  and  file  of  the  men  and 
the  employer.  This  is  by  no  means  a  mere  theoreti- 
cal statement.  Its  practical  possibility  and  absolute 
necessity  are  capable  of  easiest  demonstration.  A  lit- 
tle plain  speaking  on  this  subject  will  do  no  harm. 

When  the  referendum  already  referred  to  on  the 
Boston  and  Maine  was  in  progress,  the  Towermen's 
Brotherhood  called  a  meeting  of  its  members  to 
consider  the  proposed  reduction  in  wages.  A  com- 
mittee was  forthwith  appointed  to  wait  upon  the 
president  of  the  road  in  regard  to  one  or  two  points 
on  which  additional  information  was  desired.  Very 
much  to  the  gratification  of  the  towermen,  Presi- 
dent Tuttle  came  over  from  his  office  and  addressed 


20          LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

the  men  in  a  very  kindly  and  considerate  manner. 
He  pointed  out  that  the  proposed  reduction  was  a 
matter  in  which  men  and  management  alike  were 
vitally  interested.  It  seemed  to  him  the  better  way 
to  place  a  slight  burden  on  every  employee,  rather 
than  absolutely  to  discharge  a  considerable  num- 
ber. He  explained  that  railroads,  like  individuals, 
have  debts  that  they  are  in  honor  bound  to  attend 
to,  and,  so  far  as  the  Boston  and  Maine  Railroad 
was  concerned,  these  obligations  to  stockholders  and 
leased  roads  had  to  be  met  in  honorable  fashion. 
As  the  result  of  this  amicable  conference  the  tow- 
ermen  voted  to  accept  the  reduction  in  wages. 

Now,  the  significance  of  President  Tuttle's  ideas 
and  action  must  be  evident  to  employees  and  pub- 
lic alike.  In  so  many  words  he  said  to  us,  "  The 
corporation  needs  money.  I  ask  you  to  help  us.  I 
am  quite  aware  that  the  proper  way,  in  fact  the  only 
way,  to  secure  your  assistance  and  cooperation,  is 
for  the  management  to  take  you  into  its  confidence 
and  to  explain  to  you  our  common  business  and 
interests.  I  appeal  to  you,  then,  as  individuals,  pos- 
sessed of  good  common  sense  and  sympathetic 
understandings." 

Nothing  can  be  plainer  or  more  reasonable  than 
this  argument.  The  president  of  the  Boston  and 
Maine  Railroad  acknowledges  that  in  financial  deal- 
ings with  employees,  when  compulsion  becomes 


LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS          21 

impossible,  education  and  cooperation  must  be 
brought  into  play  and  emphasized.  But  while  in  finan- 
cial affairs  the  soundness  of  this  doctrine  is  thus 
acknowledged  by  highest  authority,  it  has  appar- 
ently not  yet  dawned  upon  any  one  that  its  princi- 
ples apply  with  tenfold  force  to  almost  every  phase 
of  the  economical  and  efficient  running  of  a  rail- 
road. That  railroad  men  should  be  kept  in  ignor- 
ance of  the  financial  condition  of  the  corporation 
they  work  for  is  of  comparatively  little  importance ; 
but  I  think  it  will  surprise  the  reader  to  be  informed 
that  the  systematic  and  organized  effort  of  man- 
agers to  interest  and  instruct  employees  in  the  hu- 
man and  economic  sides  of  their  calling  can  almost 
be  represented  by  a  blank.  Railroad  managers 
will  naturally  question  this  statement.  Their  public 
utterances,  the  betterment  work  they  so  cordially 
approve  and  assist  in  a  dozen  different  directions, 
their  insistence,  upon  public  occasions,  on  the  im- 
portance of  social  and  economic  cooperation,  lend 
considerable  strength  to  their  position ;  but  when 
we  come  to  examine  the  employee  at  his  work  and 
look  around  for  the  practical  exemplification  of  the 
opinions  and  ideals  of  the  managing  department,  a 
strange  and  perhaps  unlooked-for  state  of  affairs  is 
revealed.  And  right  here  we  are  brought  face  to 
face  with  the  heart  of  the  labor  question  on  Amer- 
ican railroads.  From  this  point  branch  out  the  con- 


22  LABOR  AND  THE   RAILROADS 

structive  lines  along  which  economy  of  operation, 
safety  of  travel,  and  general  efficiency  of  service, 
must  be  worked  for  and  anticipated.  Heretofore 
the  employee  has  been  treated  as  an  implement ; 
from  now  on,  in  the  interests  of  society,  he  will 
have  to  be  considered  as  a  man  endowed  with  re- 
ceptive and  intelligent  faculties,  who,  with  proper 
encouragement,  will  base  his  progress  and  interests 
upon  reasonable  and  sympathetic  foundations.  The 
theories  I  am  presenting  are  not  nearly  so  strange 
as  the  facts  in  the  case. 

A  few  days  ago,  in  a  freight  yard,  while  I  hap- 
pened to  be  looking  on,  a  freight  car  was  cornered 
through  careless  handling.  Slight  damage  was  done 
to  the  side  and  roof  of  the  car.  I  asked  the  man 
who  was  responsible  for  the  accident  to  give  me  his 
idea  of  the  damage  in  dollars  and  cents.  He  thought 
a  couple  of  dollars  would  fix  it  up  all  right.  A 
month  or  so  later,  happening  to  meet  this  man  on 
the  street,  I  informed  him  that  the  actual  expense 
incurred  for  repairing  the  car  had  been  $47.50. 
He  was  surprised  beyond  measure.  I  then  asked 
him  if  he  thought  employees  should  be  educated 
along  these  lines.  Would  it  do  him  any  good  as  a 
man,  and  consequently  the  service,  if  the  manager 
were  to  tell  him  that  the  trifling  act  of  carelessness, 
the  price  of  which  he  estimated  at  two  dollars,  was 
simply  an  item  of  a  bill  for  breakages  of  over  five 


LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS          23 

thousand  dollars  a  year  in  the  small  yard  in  which 
he  worked,  making  no  mention  of  the  killed  and 
injured?  Branching  out  into  my  subject,  I  asked 
him  if  he  was  personally  interested  in  the  fact  that 
the  station  receipts  on  his  division  for  September, 
1908,  were  fifty  thousand  dollars  less  than  for  the 
same  period  in  1907?  Would  it  make  any  differ- 
ence in  the  feelings  and  the  attitude  of  the  men 
toward  the  management  if  they  were  systematically 
posted  on  these  subjects?  I  had  quite  a  lengthy 
conversation  with  this  man.  Would  it  make  any 
difference  to  the  crossing  man,  I  continued,  if  his 
attention  was  called  to  the  statistics  and  the  nature 
of  crossing  accidents  on  his  particular  railroad,  to 
the  dangers  to  be  guarded  against,  and  to  the  vast 
expense  and  suffering  involved  ?  Would  it  do  any 
good  to  those  whose  duties  are  connected  with  the 
passenger  and  station  service  to  know  that  it  cost 
the  road  a  matter  of  eighty  thousand  dollars  a  year 
for  such  trifles  as  icy  platforms,  doors  closing  on 
hands,  falling  lamps,  defective  seats,  tripping  on 
station  platforms,  and  the  like  ?  Would  it,  in  his 
opinion,  be  a  good  idea  for  the  management  to  get 
after  every  man  and  his  job  in  this  personal  way, 
or  was  it  better  to  let  the  men  continue  in  utter 
ignorance  of  their  surroundings  and  wider  respons- 
ibilities ?  In  a  word,  are  we  to  be  considered  as 
men,  or  merely  as  things  ? 


24          LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

To  all  these  questions  the  man  answered  bluntly 
and  frankly,  "  You  bet  your  life  it  would  make  a 
big  difference."  Then  I  said  to  him,  "  Now  if  the 
president  of  the  road  were  to  come  out  with  a  bul- 
letin calling  our  attention  to  an  expense  account, 
for  the  year  1908,  of  a  million  dollars  for  prevent- 
able accidents  and  miscellaneous  carelessness,  and 
ask  the  men  for  a  five  per  cent  reduction  on  these 
items  for  1909,  what  do  you  suppose  would  hap- 
pen ? " —  "  He  would  get  it,"  was  the  reply. 

It  must  be  evident,  from  the  foregoing,  that  the 
education  and  enlightenment  of  the  employees  are 
being  sadly  neglected.  Along  the  indicated  lines, 
good  feeling,  cooperation,  and  daylight  in  every 
direction  can  be  discerned.  For  if  the  education  of 
the  railroad  man  is  to  consist  merely  of  the  know- 
ledge and  the  lessons  to  be  derived  from  his  daily 
routine,  assisted  by  the  inspiration  received  from 
mechanical  and  rule-of-thumb  surroundings,  the 
social  and  industrial  results  of  his  training  are  likely 
to  be  extremely  narrow  and  unsatisfactory. 

The  importance  of  these  considerations  cannot 
be  too  earnestly  impressed  upon  employees  and 
managers.  At  first  glance,  the  idea  that  an  em- 
ployee can  be  converted  into  a  real  wide-awake 
partner  in  the  affairs  and  interests  of  his  railroad, 
may  appear  to  some  to  involve  an  undertaking  of 
enormous  proportions.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is 


LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS          25 

nothing  of  the  kind.  Railroad  managers  are  to-day 
successfully  coping  with  problems  ten  times  as  com- 
plicated. The  car-service  system  is  a  good  illustra- 
tion in  point. 

On  my  own  railroad,  for  example,  actually  mil- 
lions of  freight  cars  are  annually  received  from  con- 
nections. From  the  moment  when  these  cars  touch 
the  road,  they  are  never  lost  sight  of  for  a  minute 
until  they  are  set  back  to  the  track  of  the  road  from 
which  they  were  received.  If  you  want  to  know  the 
actual  history  and  adventures  of  each  and  every  one 
of  these  cars,  you  will  find  the  information  all  ready 
for  you  in  the  records.  Its  number,  its  physical 
condition,  its  suitability  for  such  and  such  freight, 
its  capacity,  its  weight,  its  general  equipment,  and 
its  behavior  on  the  road,  are  all  there  for  public  in- 
spection. But  it  is  not  a  tenth  part  of  the  attention 
that  a  car  receives  from  the  management.  Every 
one  of  them  is  watched,  examined,  inspected,  and, 
when  necessary,  sent  to  the  shop  for  repairs.  Then 
cars  of  a  certain  class  are  called  for  to  load  at  one 
point,  cars  of  another  class  at  another  point,  per- 
haps hundreds  of  miles  away.  During  its  short  visit 
to  your  road  every  car  has  attached  to  its  record  a 
score  of  telegrams,  a  bundle  of  letters,  a  file  of 
information.  The  car  business  on  the  wires  never 
halts  or  slumbers,  and  an  army  of  telegraphers  and 
clerks  are  kept  hustling  night  and  day,  year  in  and 


26          LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

year  out,  at  enormous  expense,  to  keep  order  in  all 
this  seeming  chaos.  To  give  a  complete  history  of 
the  business  would  baffle  the  arithmetic  of  descrip- 
tion. Yet,  when  I  asked  one  of  these  car-service 
men  how  they  managed  to  keep  things  straight,  he 
assured  me  it  was  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world ! 

From  the  side  of  the  labor  organization,  accord- 
ing to  its  light  and  interest,  this  personal  education 
of  the  employee  has  been  closely  watched  and  strictly 
attended  to  for  years.  During  this  period  the  man- 
ager has  been  busy  with  other  concerns.  He  has 
permitted  it  to  appear,  to  outsiders  at  any  rate,  as 
if  the  employee  were,  in  a  measure,  an  antagonistic 
feature.  His  office  has  been  executive,  not  educa- 
tionally and  sympathetically  administrative.  You 
cannot  blame  the  superintendent  —  he  has  never 
had  a  chance  to  get  away  from  his  rules  and  ma- 
chinery of  government.  The  world  at  large  has  been 
his  enemy.  To  the  reporter  of  a  newspaper  the 
railroad  superintendent  is  still  a  sort  of  industrial 
Bluebeard,  with  a  closet  full  of  skeletons,  and  a 
head  full  of  schemes  for  the  confusion  of  employees 
and  the  public.  But  corporations  and  the  public  are 
now  taking  a  saner  view  of  the  situation.  Especially 
in  the  West  corporations  are  beginning  to  under- 
stand that  the  railroad  manager  of  the  future  will 
have  to  be  first  of  all  an  educator.  Destructive  ideas 
and  intentions  on  one  side  or  the  other  are  out  of 


LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS          27 

the  question.  The  contest  ahead  of  us  is  an  edu- 
cational rivalry.  On  the  one  hand  we  have  the  pro- 
tective organization  of  the  employee  ;  on  the  other 
we  have  the  economic,  the  social,  the  sympathetic 
administration  of  the  management.  There  can  be  no 
question  as  to  the  beneficial  results  of  this  rivalry. 
But  now,  giving  these  ideas  form  and  substance  and 
applying  them  to  everyday  life  on  the  railroads, 
what  are  the  actual  methods  of  management  to  be 
advised  or  adopted  ?  A  practical  exemplification  of 
this  will,  I  think,  prove  interesting  reading. 


II 

THE  RAILROADS  AND  EDUCATION 

As  time  goes  on,  the  embarrassment  of  the  authori- 
ties, and  of  public  opinion,  in  dealing  with  the  in- 
dustrial situation  in  railroads  and  elsewhere  is  cer- 
tain to  resolve  itself  into  action  along  definite  and 
reasonable  lines.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  result  of 
years  of  agitation  and  study  can  be  accurately  fore- 
casted, and  is  known  in  advance.  Certain  impres- 
sions and  lessons  are  being  constantly  imprinted  on 
the  mind  of  the  community,  and  the  doctrine  of  the 
survival  of  the  fittest  applies  with  equal  significance 
to  the  world  of  ideas  and  to  animal  life.  Looked 
into  closely,  we  find  this  principle  of  the  survival 
of  best-fitted  ideas  to  be  the  anchor  to  which 
democracy  attaches,  and  always  has  attached,  its 
optimism. 

At  the  beginning,  and  looking  ahead,  the  demo- 
cratic idea  proclaimed  to  the  world,  not  "I  rule,"  or 
"I  serve,"  but  " 1 trust!'  And  the  reason  for  the 
faith  that  lies  at  the  root  of  democratic  institutions 
is  known  to  all.  Through  good  report  and  evil  re- 
port the  faith  of  democracy  in  education,  and  in  the 
social  conscience  as  director  of  ways  and  means, 


THE  RAILROADS   AND   EDUCATION     29 

has  never  wavered.  In  the  present  century,  it  is 
true,  the  fundamental  truth  and  supremacy  of  demo- 
cratic principles  are  being  tested  up  to  the  hilt. 
But  all  this  "  knocking  "  and  "  raking  "  means  puri- 
fication. The  faith  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people 
in  the  solution  of  industrial  and  social  problems  by 
educational  methods  knows  no  shadow  of  turning. 
To  sneerers  and  doubters,  democracy  responds  by 
increasing  her  educational  facilities,  and  by  widen- 
ing the  sphere  of  her  activity.  Above  all  the  turmoil 
and  the  controversy,  she  calmly  abides  the  issue. 

The  determined  and  well-directed  effort  of  pre- 
sent-day educators  to  keep  in  close  touch  with  in- 
dustrial progress  is  certainly  one  of  the  healthiest 
signs  of  the  times.  Schools  and  colleges  no  longer 
pride  themselves  exclusively  upon  the  scholars,  the 
poets,  and  the  theologians  they  send  forth  into  the 
world.  Not  to  mention  the  professions,  marked  at- 
tention is  now  being  paid  to  the  industrial  arts,  and 
to  the  requirements  of  commercial  life ;  in  fact, 
honors  are  bestowed  with  impartiality  upon  ex- 
cellence in  almost  every  branch  of  honest  human 
endeavor. 

Once  impressed  with  the  importance  of  the  edu- 
cational problem  in  the  social  and  industrial  life  of 
the  nation,  one  turns  instinctively  to  the  railroads 
for  illustrations  of  its  work  and  principles.  There 
are  very  good  reasons  for  directing  our  efforts  and 


30  LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

study  in  this  direction.  For  the  railroad  is  probably 
the  most  important  industry  in  the  country,  not 
alone  as  an  employer  of  labor  and  a  purchaser  of 
material,  but  on  account  of  its  intimate  relation  to 
the  everyday  needs  and  safety  of  society. 

Day  by  day  the  railroads  are  getting  closer  to 
the  homes  and  the  pockets  of  the  people.  It  can  no 
longer  be  asserted  that  five  or  six  capitalists  own 
or  control  the  destinies  of  any  railroad.  They  are 
now  nearly  all  subject  to  the  influence  of  an  army 
of  stockholders.  For  example,  to  illustrate  the  dis- 
tribution of  railroad  stock  among  the  homes  of  the 
people,  it  is  worth  noting  that  nearly  half  of  the 
$9,437,839  which  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  lately 
distributed  as  the  semi-annual  dividend  on  its  $3 14,- 
594,650  of  capital  stock,  was  paid  to  women.  There 
are  now  58,739  stockholders  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad,  whose  average  holdings  are  107  shares. 
Of  these,  about  28,000,  or  47  per  cent,  are  women, 
who,  the  figures  show,  own  a  total  of  over  $148,000,- 
ooo  of  Pennsylvania  stock.  The  November  dividend 
last  year  was  paid  to  52,622  stockholders.  The  in- 
crease since  then  has  been  6117,  or  at  the  rate  of 
twenty  new  stockholders  in  the  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road for  each  business  day  of  the  present  twelve 
months.  Consequently  it  is  eminently  the  concern 
of  the  general  public  to  see  to  it  that  both  as  regards 
the  physical  condition  of  a  railroad,  and  as  regards 


THE  RAILROADS   AND   EDUCATION     31 

the  means  employed  for  the  efficiency  of  its  service, 
the  very  best  material  and  the  highest  quality  of 
leadership  and  workmanship  are  insisted  upon. 

To  begin  with,  then,  and  very  naturally,  the  topic 
"Education  and  the  Railroads"  divides  itself  into 
two  main  sections,  namely,  the  enlightenment  and 
instruction  of  the  public  in  regard  to  actual  condi- 
tions and  methods  of  operation ;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  enlightenment  and  instruction  of  em- 
ployees and  employers  in  regard  to  their  responsi- 
bilities and  duties.  As  it  seems  to  me,  the  first  and 
more  important  of  these  considerations  relates  to 
the  education  and  enlightenment  of  public  opinion. 
To  this  end,  we  must  have  a  fearless  description 
and  analysis  of  present-day  conditions  and  tenden- 
cies. But  for  a  number  of  reasons  those  who  are 
best  posted  and  informed,  whether  on  the  side  of 
labor  or  of  capital,  have  actually  two  sets  of  opin- 
ions :  that  which  they  know  in  their  hearts  to  be  true 
and  right ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  a  modified  state- 
ment of  these  real  opinions,  which  alone  they  are 
willing  to  publish  over  their  own  signatures. 

It  thus  becomes  evident  that  the  knowledge  of 
the  public  in  regard  to  present-day  conditions  on 
our  railroads  is  derived  from  incomplete  and  modi- 
fied information.  Neither  the  worker,  the  manager, 
nor  the  capitalist  can  be  depended  upon  to  forget 
self-interest,  and  to  publish  the  whole  truth  in  the 


32  LABOR   AND  THE  RAILROADS 

interests  of  the  community.  Studying  the  history  of 
the  case,  which  includes  the  contents  of  the  em- 
ployee's schedules  or  bill  of  rights,  and  the  absolute 
silence  of  railroad  managers,  one  must  be  pardoned 
for  arriving  at  the  conclusion  that  in  the  past,  at 
any  rate,  these  forces  have  been  actually  in  com- 
bination or  tacit  agreement  to  keep  the  public  in 
ignorance  of  the  actual  ways  and  means  by  which 
the  business  of  the  common  carrier  is  being  trans- 
acted on  American  railroads.  The  only  way  the 
railroad  manager  can  dispose  of  this  charge  is  by 
coming  out  in  the  open  and  frankly  explaining  his 
position.  He,  the  manager,  is  in  a  position  of  public 
trust  and  responsibility.  The  public  look  to  him  for 
a  sane  and  safe  administration  of  the  railroad  busi- 
ness, in  the  interest  of  the  whole  people. 

In  the  process  of  enlightening  and  educating 
public  opinion  on  these  matters  the  time  has  come 
for  the  manager  to  give  an  account  of  his  steward- 
ship. In  a  word,  is  he  nowadays  to  be  called  a 
manager  or  simply  a  slave  to  a  cut-and-dried  sched- 
ule of  arrangements  which  he  has  entered  into  with 
organizations  of  his  employees,  and  in  which,  it  is 
claimed,  the  public  interests  have  been  sacrificed? 
Is  the  manager  willing  to  publish  and  comment  on 
these  agreements  for  the  information  and  educa- 
tion of  the  traveling  public?  In  the  business  of  the 
common  carrier,  what  reason  or  excuse  can  be  ad- 


THE  RAILROADS   AND   EDUCATION     33 

vanced  for  secrecy?  These  are  questions  which  the 
railroad  manager  is  now  called  upon  to  answer,  for 
they  relate  to  the  social  standing  and  to  the  moral 
health,  not  only  of  the  worker  and  the  manager, 
but  with  positive  emphasis  to  the  self-respect  and 
the  social  conscience  of  the  community. 

At  the  present  day  the  public  is  utterly  and  un- 
accountably ignorant  of  the  nature  of  the  points  at 
issue  between  labor  and  management  on  the  rail- 
road. There  seems  to  be  little  disposition  in  any 
quarter  to  enlighten  or  educate  the  public  on  topics 
in  which  they  are  vitally  interested. 

Under  date  of  December  4,  1908,  a  mediation 
pact  was  signed  in  Washington  by  representatives 
of  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Engineers  and 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company.  Chairman 
Knapp  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission, 
and  Dr.  Charles  P.  Neill,  Commissioner  of  Labor, 
were  the  mediators.  From  the  published  report  of 
the  proceedings  it  is  evident  that  the  engineers  are 
dissatisfied  with  the  discipline  that  is  administered 
to  the  members  of  its  brotherhood,  while  the  man- 
agers complain  of  the  interference  with  the  regu- 
lations of  the  road  which  they  try  to  enforce  in  the 
interest  of  the  traveling  public.  Sooner  or  later 
public  opinion  is  always  called  upon  to  throw  the 
weight  of  its  influence  on  one  side  or  the  other ; 
consequently  the  details  of  the  controversy,  with 


34          LABOR  AND  THE   RAILROADS 

concrete  illustrations  of  the  points  at  issue,  should 
receive  the  widest  possible  publicity.  To  furnish 
the  public  with  as  much  of  the  inside  information 
as  possible  is  the  primary  purpose  of  this  paper. 

In  the  "Santa  Fe"  Employees'  Magazine"  for 
November,  1908,  one  of  a  series  of  very  seasonable 
articles  on  the  relations  that  obtain  on  our  railroads 
between  the  man  and  the  manager  was  written  by 
a  well-posted  and  conscientious  employee  of  that 
system.  To  begin  with,  he  made  the  following 
statement: — 

"  It  is  very  evident  we  railroad  men  have  rendered 
a  very  poor  account  of  our  stewardship."  In  dis- 
cussing the  failure  of  employees  to  report  transgres- 
sions, the  writer  insists  that  they  "often  run  the 
risk  of  dismissal,  rather  than  comment  officially  on 
the  conduct  of  a  fellow  employee.  Many  of  them 
have  a  peculiar  sliding  scale  which  they  use  when 
necessity  confronts  them  for  reporting  their  fellows. 
Upon  this  scale  appears  (in  unwritten  letters)  the 
enormity  of  the  violation,  the  standing  of  the  delin- 
quent among  his  comrades,  and  last,  but  greatest 
of  all,  the  chances  of  the  officials  finding  it  out. 
These  matters  are  all  weighed  before  a  decision 
is  arrived  at  as  to  whether  to  make  a  report  or  not. 

"That  such  a  condition  of  affairs  exists  is  not 
hard  to  believe,  when  we  take  into  consideration 
that  the  vast  majority  of  enginemen  and  trainmen 


THE   RAILROADS   AND   EDUCATION     35 

are  members  of  railway  brotherhoods,  bound  to- 
gether by  secret  ties  in  an  endeavor  to  promote  their 
interests  as  a  body,  and  to  render  mutual  assistance 
and  relief.  And  then,  back  of  this  lies  the  fact  that 
an  employee  who  makes  it  a  practice  to  report,  or 
who  will  report  another  when  it  might  have  been 
covered  up,  is  in  a  fair  way  to  become  an  outcast, 
deprived  of  the  confidence  of  his  friends  and  co- 
workers.  Between  the  attitude  of  employees  who 
will  not  report  the  shortcomings  of  their  fellows, 
and  the  inability  of  the  officials  to  learn  of  the  trans- 
gressions of  these  men,  poor  old  Safety  is  between 
the  devil  and  the  deep  sea." 

This  is  one  of  the  most  important  contributions 
that  has  yet  been  written  and  signed  by  a  railroad 
employee.  The  traveling  public  must  understand 
from  this  information  that  the  business  of  the 
common  carrier  is  being  conducted  by  employees 
who,  for  unstated  reasons,  are  bound  together  by 
secret  ties.  Without  pausing  to  discuss  the  nature 
of  these  secret  ties,  or  their  relation  to  the  safety 
of  the  traveling  public,  it  will,  I  think,  be  allowed 
that  no  special  privileges  can  be  granted  by  the 
community,  either  to  corporations  or  to  brother- 
hoods of  railroad  men,  in  regard  to  their  methods 
of  serving  the  public  in  this  business  of  the 
common  carrier. 

The  same  law  that  applies  to  a  traffic  arrange- 


36           LABOR   AND   THE   RAILROADS 

ment  should  also  be  in  force  in  regard  to  the  rail- 
road man's  schedule.  This  should  not  only  be  a 
theoretical  fact  or  condition,  but  the  making  of  the 
schedule  itself  should  actually  be  looked  upon  as 
an  affair  in  which  the  public  is  a  vitally  interested 
factor,  and  nothing  should  be  allowed  to  appear  in 
it  that  can  be  shown  to  interfere  with  the  mainte- 
nance of  discipline,  with  the  safety  of  travel,  or  with 
the  industrial  and  ethical  ideals  of  the  American 
people.  At  the  present  day,  the  party  most  con- 
cerned, the  principal  sufferer  in  this  secret  contract 
between  the  man  and  the  manager,  has  no  voice  in 
its  composition,  and  is  kept  in  total  ignorance  of  its 
stipulations  and  their  social  significance. 

The  following  illustration  will  be  sufficient  to 
demonstrate  the  wide  and  important  significance 
of  this  branch  of  my  subject :  Some  time  ago  the 
adjustment  committee  of  one  of  the  largest  unions 
of  railroad  employees  paid  an  official  visit  to  a  rail- 
road manager,  and  said  to  him  in  substance,  "For 
the  future  we  desire  to  establish  the  rule  that  no 
employee  in  our  department  shall  be  permitted  to 
consult  or  confer  with  a  superintendent  on  matters 
relating  to  his  work  except  through  the  medium  of 
the  adjustment  committee." 

The  thoughtful  reader  is  invited  to  think  over 
this  proposition,  and  if  possible  to  reconcile  it  with 
his  ideas  of  personal  liberty  and  the  first  principles 


THE  RAILROADS  AND   EDUCATION     37 

of  American  civilization.  According  to  my  light, 
the  only  way  to  enlighten  the  public  in  regard  to 
the  significance  of  this  and  similar  situations  in 
the  industrial  world,  is  to  furnish  concrete  illustra- 
tions of  actual  work  and  behavior,  and  to  call  atten- 
tion to  the  lessons  contained  in  them. 

Some  time  ago  the  general  manager  of  perhaps 
the  largest  railroad  system  in  the  United  States 
said  to  me,  "  I  hope  to  live  to  see  the  day  when  a 
railroad  manager,  as  an  individual  responsible  to  the 
public  for  the  safety  of  travel,  shall  be  able  to  re- 
move a  man  for  the  simple  reason  that  in  his  opinion 
the  employee  is  actually  unsafe  to  run  an  engine  or 
conduct  a  train." 

The  manifest  meaning  and  the  lesson  for  the 
traveling  public  contained  in  this  statement  cannot 
be  too  strongly  emphasized.  The  safety  of  travel 
at  the  present  day  is  actually  at  the  mercy  of  a 
system  that  has  eliminated  the  very  first  principles 
of  sane  supervision  and  executive  control.  Just  how 
this  principle  lives,  moves,  and  conducts  itself  on 
an  American  railroad,  cannot  but  make  the  judi- 
cious grieve.  Let  us  look  into  this  matter  with  all 
seriousness. 

Some  time  ago,  on  one  of  the  most  important 
railroad  systems  in  the  country,  an  engineman, 
while  backing  his  train  into  a  yard,  called  in  his 
flagman  before  the  train  was  in  to  clear.  As  the 


38  LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

result  his  engine  was  "  side-swiped  "  by  a  passenger 
train  and  several  employees  were  injured.  After  a 
thorough  investigation  into  the  accident  itself,  and 
considering  the  previous  record  of  the  man,  the 
superintendent  of  the  division,  his  assistant,  and 
the  superintendent  of  motive  power,  reported  to 
the  general  manager  that  the  man  in  question,  in 
their  opinion,  was  unfit  to  be  in  charge  of  an  en- 
gine. In  the  words  of  the  superintendent,  "We 
might  just  as  well  have  saved  ourselves  the  trouble 
and  time  given  to  the  matter.  The  usual  number 
of  marks  that  apply  to  his  offense  was  added  to  the 
man's  record,  and  that  is  all  there  was  to  it.  We 
now  watch  the  going  out  and  coming  in  of  that  man 
with  fear  and  trembling ;  but  we  are  helpless." 

The  traveling  public  is  to-day  at  the  mercy  of  the 
railroad  man's  schedule.  It  is  not  so  much  this 
clause  or  that  clause  that  is  objectionable,  but  the 
simple  power  and  practice  of  a  powerful  organiza- 
tion to  dispute  and  appeal  from  the  decision  of  the 
management,  not  only  in  matters  of  discipline,  but 
actually  in  every  verdict  that  happens  to  rub  any 
individual  railroad  man  the  wrong  way. 

With  a  view  to  enlightening  public  opinion  on 
the  widespread  nature  of  this  evil,  illustrations  must 
not  be  spared. 

One  of  the  best-known  methods  employed  by  rail- 
road managers  at  the  present  day  to  ascertain  the 


THE  RAILROADS   AND   EDUCATION     39 

vigilance  and  obedience  of  road  men,  is  what  is  com- 
monly called  the  surprise  test.  This  is,  perhaps, 
the  best  out-on-the-road  inspection  yet  inaugurated, 
for  it  places  all  employees  on  an  equality  so  far  as 
observance  of  the  rules  is  concerned.  When  this 
system  of  surprise  tests  was  first  inaugurated  on  a 
Western  railroad,  on  whose  payrolls  there  are  up- 
wards of  fifty  thousand  employees,  the  management 
encountered  a  very  strange  experience,  which  will 
serve  to  illustrate  another  phase  of  the  railroad 
man's  schedule,  and  the  principles  which  are  in- 
volved. 

One  day  two  of  the  chief  executive  officers  of 
this  railroad  took  a  trip  out  on  the  road.  Alighting 
at  a  way  station,  they  walked  along  the  track  for 
a  mile  or  two  until  they  came  to  a  long  wooden 
trestle.  Taking  all  necessary  precautions,  they  built 
a  fire  in  close  proximity  to  the  bridge  and  then 
secreted  themselves  in  the.  bushes  to  watch  the 
effect  of  their  surprise  test.  Before  long  an  express 
passenger  train  came  along,  and  although  a  cloud 
of  smoke  was  ascending  through  the  rafters  of  the 
bridge  and  right  in  the  face  and  eyes  of  the  engine- 
man  on  the  passenger  train,  he  failed  to  pay  the 
slightest  attention  to  it,  but  kept  on  his  way  with 
undiminished  speed. 

The  test  officers  remained  at  their  posts  in  the 
bushes.  Very  soon  another  train  came  along,  but 


40          LABOR  AND  THE   RAILROADS 

the  engineman  of  the  second  train  had  no  sooner 
caught  a  glimpse  of  the  smoke  than  he  blew  the 
customary  fire-signal.  He  then  whistled  out  his 
flagman,  brought  his  train  to  a  standstill,  and  with 
the  assistance  of  the  train  crew  he  quickly  extin- 
guished the  flames.  At  the  end  of  his  trip  he  re- 
ported the  matter  to  his  superintendent  on  the 
usual  form. 

A  few  days  later,  the  general  manager,  who  had 
been  one  of  the  test  officers  in  the  bushes,  called 
the  engineman  of  the  first  train  into  his  office.  The 
evidence  was  altogether  too  strong  for  the  engine- 
man  to  question  the  existence  of  the  fire,  so  he  fell 
back  upon  the  simple  excuse  that  he  didn't  or 
could  n't  see  it.  The  manager  said  to  him,  in  sub- 
stance, "  I  am  very  sorry  that  I  am  unable  to  remove 
you  from  your  engine  for  inexcusable  carelessness. 
You  are  just  as  well  aware  as  I  am  that  every 
trestle  and  wooden  bridge  on  your  run  is  actually 
a  fire-risk  or  a  fire-trap.  It  is  surely  not  too  much 
to  ask  you  to  remember  this  every  time  you  ap- 
proach or  run  over  a  bridge  with  the  lives  of  hun- 
dreds of  passengers  in  your  charge  and  keeping.  In 
my  opinion  you  are  not  a  safe  man  to  be  in  charge 
of  an  engine ;  that  is  all  I  have  to  say  to  you  ;  you 
may  go."  Then  the  engineman  of  the  second  train 
was  called  into  the  office.  The  manager  thanked 
him  and  complimented  him  in  flattering  terms  for 


THE  RAILROADS   AND   EDUCATION     41 

his  conduct  in  regard  to  the  fire  under  the  bridge. 
Finally,  he  said  to  him,  "  As  a  slight  acknowledg- 
ment of  your  prompt  action  and  praiseworthy  con- 
duct in  the  interest  of  the  passengers  and  the  road, 
I  grant  you  a  month's  leave  of  absence,  with  full 
pay." 

So  far,  so  good.  But  before  long  the  grievance 
committee  of  the  brotherhood  took  the  matter  up, 
and  informed  the  manager  that  he  would  have  to 
cancel  his  disposition  of  the  case.  In  plain  English, 
it  was  against  the  principles  and  rules  of  the  brother- 
hood to  pick  out  and  signalize  any  man's  conduct 
in  this  way.  No  allowance,  either  in  time  or  money, 
would  be  sanctioned  by  the  brotherhood  to  any  man 
for  doing  his  duty.  It  creates  a  distinction  where 
no  distinction  is  recognized.  It  makes  a  difference 
in  the  pay  schedule,  where  no  variation  is  permitted 
in  favor  of  any  man.  This  was  a  decision  of  the 
adjustment  committee,  and  so  far  as  the  public  and 
the  management  are  concerned,  it  remains  the  law 
on  the  subject. 

Nevertheless,  public  opinion  is  invited  to  study 
this  illustration,  and  to  think  it  over  from  a  wider 
standpoint  than  that  contained  in  the  fiat  of  a  griev- 
ance committee,  or  the  unwilling  consent  of  a  rail- 
road manager. 

But  now  just  a  word  or  two  about  my  illustra- 
tions in  general.  It  is,  of  course,  a  noticeable  fact 


42  LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

about  these  illustrations  that  I  seldom  mention  the 
road  upon  which  the  incident  occurs,  and  still  less 
the  names  of  the  managers  or  the  men  concerned 
in  them.  There  is  at  bottom  a  deep-rooted  reason 
for  this  omission.  It  is  a  matter  of  common  know- 
ledge that,  so  far  as  educating  the  public  into  a 
knowledge  of  the  internal  management  or  conduct 
of  the  railroad  business  is  concerned,  every  em- 
ployee who  is  connected  with  an  organization,  and 
every  superintendent  who  has  a  position  he  cares 
anything  about,  is  virtually  and  practically  under 
an  implied  oath  of  secrecy.  Thus  the  man  is  sup- 
posed to  be  loyal  to  his  union,  the  superintendent 
to  the  management  of  his  road. 

It  would  appear  from  this  that  we  have  some- 
thing to  conceal,  or  that  we  do  not  care  to  submit 
many  of  our  methods  and  regulations  to  public  criti- 
cism. Few  of  us  have  stopped  to  think  of  our  be- 
havior in  this  light,  and  yet  there  can  be  no  other 
excuse  or  reason  for  secrecy  in  a  business  that  so 
closely  concerns  the  public  interest  and  welfare  as 
this  business  of  the  common  carrier.  We  are  all 
under  the  spell  of  Mr.  Carnegie's  old  maxim, 
"Richard,  if  you  want  to  succeed  in  this  business 
you  will  have  to  keep  your  mouth  shut,  and  al- 
ways remember  that  a  close  mouth  is  always  the 
sign  of  a  wise  head." 

In  considering  the  industrial  dilemma  with  which 


THE  RAILROADS   AND   EDUCATION     43 

we  are  confronted  at  the  present  day,  and  in  pro- 
posing and  inviting  a  new  and  better  order  of  things 
on  American  railroads,  the  breaking  of  the  ice  con- 
tained in  the  secret  platform  of  the  manager  and 
the  employee  is  a  matter  of  the  first  importance. 

It  is  of  little  use  to  ask  the  writer  of  this  article 
to  prove  the  truth  of  his  illustrations  while  the 
manager  remains  silent.  What  the  writer  knows  is 
but  a  drop  in  the  bucket  to  what  the  manager  is 
aware  of,  and  won't  tell.  To  tell  the  truth,  the  man- 
ager has  the  best  of  reasons  at  the  present  day  for 
keeping  his  mouth  shut,  and  for  allowing  the  pub- 
lic to  worry  itself  out  of  the  dilemma  as  best  it  can. 

Some  time  ago  I  asked  the  president  of  a  West- 
ern railroad  to  account  for  this  seeming  indifference 
of  railroad  managers.  He  replied,  "  Silence  is  the 
last  stand  of  the  American  railroad  managers.  To 
express  opinions  or  assert  ourselves  in  any  way 
would  cost  millions.  The  revenues  of  the  railroads 
to-day  are  at  the  mercy  of  the  political  schemer, 
who,  upon  occasion,  makes  a  deal  at  our  expense 
with  our  own  flesh  and  blood,  that  is  to  say,  with 
our  employees.  It  is  the  apathy  of  the  public  to  its 
real  interests  that  is  the  actual  cause  and  root  of 
inefficient  management.  For  example,  if  I  were  to 
make  a  public  statement  that  the  inspectors  em- 
ployed by  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission 
are  nearly  all  of  them  discharged  employees,  do  you 


44          LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

think  it  would  shock  the  public's  sense  of  fairness  ? 
Not  a  bit  of  it.  Stranger  things  are  happening 
every  day.  Take  another  illustration.  A  piece  of 
machinery,  a  self-dumping  ash-pan,  was  invented. 
Legislation  was  sought  to  compel  the  railroads  to 
adopt  the  invention.  The  cost,  of  course,  figured 
little  in  the  matter.  After  hearing  from  all  sides, 
the  congressional  committee  to  whom  the  matter 
had  been  referred  concluded  not  to  report  the  bill 
favorably.  Thereupon,  within  a  day  or  two  of  the 
closing  of  the  session,  both  Speaker  Cannon  and 
Vice-President  Fairbanks  were  bombarded  with 
telegrams  to  the  effect  that  75,000  firemen  demanded 
that  the  ash-pan  law  should  be  passed.  This  could 
only  be  done  by  unanimous  consent,  but  it  was  done 
thereupon,  and  the  law  passed  in  both  the  House 
and  the  Senate,  and  was  signed  by  the  President, 
who  sent  the  pen  to  Grand  Chief  Hanrahan.  The 
railroads  must  now  foot  the  bills." 

But  so  far  as  the  public  is  concerned,  the  para- 
lysis and  silence  of  the  railroad  manager  can  be 
brought  still  nearer  home.  At  a  station  on  a  certain 
railroad,  the  change  of  men  was  supposed  to  take 
place  at  1 1  P.  M.,  but  on  account  of  the  train  service 
the  relief  man  was  always  five  minutes  late.  The 
man  he  relieved  objected  to  this,  and  insisted  upon 
leaving  the  office  at  1 1  P.  M.  The  matter  was  taken 
up  by  the  union,  and  considerable  feeling  was  mani- 


THE  RAILROADS   AND   EDUCATION     45 

fested  on  both  sides.  Finally,  the  business  was 
taken  to  the  manager  of  the  road  for  settlement. 
But  neither  conciliation  nor  arbitration  had  any 
effect  whatever,  and  so  at  last,  in  despair,  the  man- 
ager changed  the  schedule  of  the  train. 

How  does  a  settlement  of  this  kind  suit  the  travel- 
ing public  ?  What  is  to  be  said  about  their  conven- 
ience and  their  connections  ?  Should  any  fifty  mer- 
chants in  a  city  desire  to  change  the  time  of  a  train 
they  would  soon  discover  that  they  had  quite  a  job 
on  their  hands.  While  talking  with  a  manager  about 
this  case,  he  informed  me  that  he  could  furnish  a 
dozen  illustrations  of  a  similar  nature.  From  this 
statement  we  may  infer  that  when  the  manager,  by 
means  of  public  recognition  and  support,  can  be 
persuaded  to  come  out  in  the  open  and  tell  his  story, 
strange  revelations  may  be  expected. 

Continuing  my  illustrations  of  methods  and  ideals 
on  American  railroads,  another  interesting  phase 
has  to  be  noticed. 

In  one  of  the  articles  of  a  former  series  which 
appeared  in  the  "Atlantic  Monthly,"  I  had  occasion 
to  refer  to  the  painstaking  and  successful  manage- 
ment of  the  Chicago  and  Alton  Railroad.  Previous 
to  writing  the  article  I  paid  a  visit  to  the  road.  I 
collected  a  mass  of  statistics,  and  conversed  with 
many  of  the  employees.  I  was  very  much  impressed 
with  the  healthy  esprit  de  corps  that  seemed  to  me  to 


46          LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

be  a  marked  characteristic  of  the  work  and  conver- 
sation of  the  employees.  On  all  sides  there  seemed 
to  be  a  spirit  of  cooperation,  which  was  fostered  by 
a  marked  liberality  of  treatment  on  the  part  of  the 
management  toward  the  employees.  The  actual 
results,  in  efficiency  of  service  and  freedom  from 
accidents,  were  known  to  railroad  men  all  over 
the  country,  and  recorded  in  the  newspapers.  Over 
and  over  again,  employees  of  the  Chicago  and  Alton 
informed  me  that  in  those  days  serious  accidents 
were  almost  unheard  of,  and  injuries  to  passengers 
and  trainmen  were  few  and  far  between. 

But  now,  within  a  year  or  so,  a  change  has  come 
over  the  spirit  of  the  scene.  New  methods  of  man- 
agement are  now  in  force.  According  to  the  talk 
and  understanding  among  the  men,  the  watchword 
of  the  former  administration  was  efficiency  of  ser- 
vice ;  that  of  the  latter  is  economy  of  operation  and 
a  reduction  of  the  working  force  to  the  lowest  pos- 
sible limit.  The  men  very  quickly  catch  on  to  the 
ideals  and  policy  of  a  management.  To  secure  effi- 
ciency of  service,  a  wide  sympathy  and  considera- 
tion for  the  interests  of  the  employees  must  actu- 
ally be  the  first  consideration.  To  cut  a  gang  of 
men  in  half,  reduce  the  wages  of  the  survivors,  and 
then  preach  the  doctrine  of  cooperation  in  the  in- 
terests of  efficiency,  is  questionable  policy.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  take  my  ideas  on  the  subject  as 


THE  RAILROADS  AND   EDUCATION     47 

warrant  for  applying  the  story  to  the  Chicago  and 
Alton  Railroad. 

For  some  time  past  the  superintendent  of  the 
road  has  made  a  feature  of  lectures  and  talks  to 
employees,  and  has  been  calling  attention  to  the 
unsatisfactory  state  of  affairs.  One  of  his  circulars 
reads  as  follows  :  "  We  are  having  too  many  mis- 
haps, the  offered  excuse  for  which  has  been,  'We 
have  been  doing  that  way  right  along,  and  nothing 
has  ever  happened.'  This  is  following  out  customs 
and  practices  with  utter  disregard  to  rules.  The 
safety  of  yourselves  and  all  your  fellow  employees, 
as  well  as  the  economical  operation  of  the  road, 
is  directly  proportionate  to  the  rules  being  carried 
out." 

In  one  of  his  talks  to  the  men,  Superintendent 
Mulhearn  dwelt  largely  upon  the  subject  of  ambi- 
tion. He  appealed  to  every  employee  to  keep  ad- 
vancement in  view,  and  to  think  of  something  else 
besides  six  o'clock  and  pay-day.  He  declared  that 
the  careful,  conscientious,  loyal  employee  would  be 
in  the  front,  and  help  make  up  the  family  of  offi- 
cials and  others  in  the  executive  position,  while  the 
drone  and  don't-care  variety  would  always  remain 
at  the  bottom.  He  said  that  he  was  anxious  that 
every  employee  try  to  make  himself  valuable  to  the 
company,  so  that  mutual  interests  might  be  con- 
served, and  that  all  might  profit. 


48           LABOR  AND  THE   RAILROADS 

These  confidential  talks,  and  the  general  policy 
of  Superintendent  Mulhearn,  will  perhaps  be  con- 
sidered as  decidedly  healthy  and  satisfactory.  From 
the  viewpoint  of  public  education  and  the  real  in- 
terests of  the  men,  the  railroad,  and  the  community, 
however,  a  little  analysis  of  the  cooperative  doctrine 
will  not  be  out  of  place. 

I  spoke  to  one  of  the  subordinate  officials  of  the 
Chicago  and  Alton  about  it.  This  man  was  in  charge 
of  fifty  or  sixty  men.  I  said  to  him,  "  I  notice  the 
officials  on  the  Chicago  and  Alton  have  inaugurated 
a  campaign  of  instruction  and  education,  with  a  view 
to  interest  the  men  in  their  work,  and  to  induce  them 
to  cooperate  with  the  management  in  the  interest 
of  efficiency  and  economy.  I  would  like  to  know 
what  this  means,"  I  continued  ;  "  is  it  a  real  gospel 
you  are  preaching,  or  is  it  only  a  method  adopted 
to  secure  economy  and  efficiency  of  operation  with- 
out any  positive  and  real  regard  for  the  interests  of 
the  men  ?  For  example,  when  your  superintendent 
says  that  on  his  railroad  drones  will  remain  at  the 
bottom  and  conscientious  employees  be  advanced 
over  their  heads,  is  the  statement  a  fact,  or  a  mere 
figure  of  speech  ?  Are  you  yourself  at  liberty  to 
handle  your  men  in  this  way?  Is  there  any  way,  so 
far  as  you  know,  by  which  you  can  single  out  a 
good  man  and  favor  him  ?  Can  you  increase  his 
pay,  promote  him,  or  distinguish  him  _above,  or  at 


THE  RAILROADS   AND   EDUCATION     49 

the  expense  of,  the  shiftless  worker?  If  not,  what 
does  all  this  preaching  amount  to  ?  The  doctrine  is 
hollow  to  the  core  if,  after  all  your  preaching,  your 
superintendent,  and  you  yourself,  deliberately  ad- 
vance a  man,  perhaps  a  drone,  regardless  of  his 
qualifications,  over  the  heads  of  good  men,  simply 
because  he  happens  to  be  their  senior." 

The  foreman  I  spoke  to  confessed  his  inability  to 
answer  me  in  a  satisfactory  manner.  While  he  was 
willing  to  admit  the  truth  of  my  contention,  he 
blamed  the  schedules  for  the  unsatisfactory  rela- 
tions that  exist,  on  all  railroads,  between  the  men 
and  the  management. 

Unfortunately,  however,  the  men  are  unable  to 
look  upon  the  seniority  rule  in  this  light.  They 
seem  to  think  the  very  existence  of  the  unions  on 
the  railroads  is  dependent  upon  the  enforcement  of 
the  seniority  idea  to  the  letter.  And  they  are  right, 
while  the  men  and  the  management  continue  to  be 
antagonistic  forces.  While  this  feeling  of  separate 
interests  and  objects  remains  in  force,  cooperation 
is  a  mere  will-o'-the-wisp.  The  men  themselves  are 
quick  to  appreciate  this  fact. 

Some  time  ago  I  met  an  engineman  who  is  em- 
ployed on  the  New  Haven  system.  He  was  more 
or  less  familiar  with  my  essays  and  arguments.  He 
considered  them  quite  plausible  in  theory,  but  use- 
less as  to  any  practical  application.  He  said  to  me: 


50          LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

"  Can  you  give  me  one  reason  why  a  railroad  man 
should  interest  himself  in  the  management  or  the 
welfare  of  his  road  ? " 

"Your  pocket-book,  and  your  self-respect,"  I 
suggested. 

"  Not  at  all,"  he  replied.  "  You  must  give  me  a 
definite,  a  concrete  illustration.  I  must  get  some 
actual  return  for  any  special  interest  I  take,  over 
and  above  the  routine  of  my  work.  But  we  want 
this  as  a  body,  and  not  separate  illustrations  as  in- 
dividuals. For  example,  I  say  to  my  railroad  :  '  One 
shovelful  of  coal  in  every  four  that  is  handled  on  a 
locomotive  is  wasted.  Make  a  bargain  with  us  and 
we  will  actually  save  you  twenty-five  per  cent  of 
your  coal-bill.  Moreover,  there  are  a  score  of  other 
ways  in  which  economy  can  be  exercised  in  our  de- 
partment, and  quite  as  many  in  which  the  comfort 
and  convenience  of  the  traveling  public  can  be  in- 
creased. As  individuals,  we  decline  to  consider  the 
matter  either  with  you  or  the  public  ;  but  if  you, 
the  railroad,  will  set  aside  a  block  of  your  stock  of 
a  value  equivalent  to  the  saving  we  are  prepared  to 
guarantee  to  you,  and  place  this  stock  in  the  hands 
of  our  unions,  we  will  at  once  talk  and  act  coopera- 
tion with  you  to  some  purpose.  At  the  same  time, 
we  candidly  confess  to  you  that  we  desire  to  hold 
and  control  this  stock  with  the  ultimate  object  of 
getting  a  share  in  the  management.'  " 


THE  RAILROADS   AND   EDUCATION     51 

At  the  present  day,  without  doubt,  the  most  in- 
teresting single  topic  connected  with  the  industrial 
situation  on  railroads  is  contained  in  the  word 
schedule.  What  is  this  schedule  we  hear  so  much 
about  ?  What  is  the  nature  of  this  interesting  agree- 
ment which  defines  the  rights  of  a  railroad  man, 
and  the  powers  of  the  superintendent  ?  Generally 
speaking,  the  schedule  is  a  very  simple  and  compre- 
hensible document.  The  schedule  of  the  Boston 
and  Maine  trainmen,  for  example,  contains  no  less 
than  seventy-three  rules  or  stipulations.  From  the 
moment  when  a  trainman  goes  on  duty  in  the  morn- 
ing until  he  puts  up  at  night,  every  move  he  makes, 
every  circumstance  he  encounters,  or  is  liable  to 
encounter,  is  outlined  in  some  clause  of  his  sched- 
ule, and  the  remuneration  for  his  services  connected 
therewith  is  distinctly  defined. 

With  the  changing  of  conditions  and  the  constant 
expansion  of  business,  new  clauses  are  added  to  the 
schedule.  It  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  nine 
out  of  ten  of  the  stipulations  in  the  trainman's 
schedule  can  actually  be  called  the  righting  of 
wrongs.  Take  the  following,  for  illustration :  — 

No.  6.  Crews  will  not  be  required  to  work  with 
more  than  one  inexperienced  man. 

No.  1 1.  Men  shall,  if  they  so  desire,  upon  leaving 
the  service,  be  given  a  letter  stating  the  nature  and 
time  of  service  and  reason  for  leaving  the  same. 


52  LABOR   AND   THE   RAILROADS 

No.  19.  Men  released  from  duty  between  termi- 
nal stations  will  receive  pay  for  full  run. 

No.  28.  Regular  conductors,  doing  the  work  of 
an  assistant  conductor,  will  receive  regular  con- 
ductor's rate  of  pay  for  the  day. 

No.  45.  Men  doubling  hills,  or  obliged  to  follow 
the  engine  in  going  for  water  or  coal,  will  be  allowed 
mileage  in  addition  to  trip. 

The  agreement  covers  every  conceivable  phase  of 
the  railroad  man's  work.  His  overtime,  his  promo- 
tion, his  pay  for  attending  court ;  when  he  is  called 
for  duty  and  not  required  ;  his  leave  of  absence,  his 
right  to  employment  after  being  injured  in  the 
service,  his  emergency  service,  his  extra  service, 
his  wreck-train  service,  —  not  an  item  is  forgotten, 
every  detail  in  regard  to  his  work  and  pay  is  down 
in  black  and  white,  and  he  carries  the  agreement, 
signed  by  the  general  manager,  in  his  pocket. 

No  little  admiration  and  praise  must  be  accorded 
to  organized  labor  for  this  crowning  result  of  years 
of  agitation  and  courageous  effort.  But  nevertheless 
there  are  one  or  two  clauses  in  this  schedule  which 
very  closely  concern  the  public  interests  ;  their 
nature,  and  their  effect  on  the  community  at  large, 
should  be  thoroughly  understood. 

Among  the  general  rules  of  the  trainman's  sched- 
ule, No.  i  reads  as  follows  :  — 

"  Promotions  will  be  governed  by  merit,  ability, 


THE  RAILROADS   AND   EDUCATION     53 

and  seniority;  all  things  being  equal,  preference 
will  be  given  to  men  longest  in  the  service,  the 
superintendent  to  be  judge  of  qualifications." 

This  rule  is  altogether  in  the  best  interests  of  the 
men,  the  management,  and  the  community  at  large. 
The  superintendent  is  placed  in  charge  of  the  pro- 
motion department.  He  is  empowered  to  overlook 
seniority  in  favor  of  merit  and  ability.  In  this  rule 
there  is  actually  no  appeal  from  his  decisions.  He 
is  distinctly  named  as  judge  of  qualifications  for 
every  vacancy  or  appointment  in  the  train  service. 
But  in  actual  practice  the  rule  is  useless  and  un- 
workable. One  rule  in  the  schedule  is  played  against 
another,  and  in  the  melee  the  judge  is  turned  into 
a  cipher. 

Rule  No.  7  is  as  follows  :  — 

"  In  case  of  discipline,  right  of  appeal  will  be 
granted  if  exercised  within  ten  days,  and  a  hearing 
will  be  given  as  promptly  as  possible,  at  which  men 
may  be  accompanied  by  fellow  employees  of  the 
same  or  superior  class.  If  the  investigation  finds 
the  accused  blameless,  his  record  will  remain  as 
previous  thereto,  and  he  shall  receive  pay  for  all 
time  lost." 

Here  again,  standing  by  itself,  is  a  fairly  good 
rule,  which  does  away  with  any  possibility  of 
unprincipled  management.  But  unfortunately  the 
employee,  through  his  organization,  has  seen  fit  to 


54          LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

enlarge  the  right  of  appeal  from  the  verdict  of  the 
management  in  matters  of  discipline  to  a  general 
right  of  appeal  from  anything  that  displeases  him 
in  every  nook  and  corner  of  the  railroad  business. 
In  this  way  the  superintendent,  as  final  and  absolute 
judge  of  qualifications,  is  blotted  out.  At  the  pre- 
sent day,  if  he  should  exercise  his  prerogative  and 
place  merit  and  ability  above  seniority,  he  would 
raise  a  veritable  storm  in  railroad  circles.  As  a  di- 
rect result  of  this  state  of  affairs,  merit  and  ability, 
as  qualifications  for  promotion,  have  been  banished 
from  the  train  service  of  American  railroads. 

From  the  educational  standpoint  the  contents  of 
the  railroad  man's  schedule,  and  its  effect  upon  the 
efficiency  of  the  service,  are  in  little  danger  of 
being  over-emphasized. 

According  to  John  Ruskin,  there  are  two  im- 
portant mottoes  in  the  industrial  world  :  the  em- 
ployers', which  says,  "Every  man  in  his  place," 
and  the  employees',  which  demands  for  "  Every 
man  his  chance."  Mr.  Ruskin  adds  the  following 
comment :  — 

"  Let  us  amend  the  employees'  motto  a  little  and 
say,  '  Every  man  his  certainty,'  —  certainty,  that 
if  he  does  well  he  will  be  honored  and  aided  and 
advanced,  and  equal  certainty  that  if  he  does  ill  he 
will  by  sure  justice  be  judged  and  corrected.  For 
the  only  thing  of  consequence  is  what  we  do;  and 


,     THE  RAILROADS   AND   EDUCATION     55 

for  man,  woman,  or  child,  the  first  point  of  educa- 
tion is  to  make  them  do  their  best.  It  is  the  law  of 
good  economy  to  make  the  best  of  everything.  How 
much  more  to  make  the  best  of  every  creature" 

So  far  in  this  paper,  from  the  educational  stand- 
point, my  object  has  been  to  call  attention  to 
actual  conditions  and  methods  of  operation  on  the 
railroads.  Next  in  order  comes  the  attempt  to  inter- 
est all  concerned  in  certain  practical  reforms,  to 
the  end  that  we  may  secure  better  work  and  a 
better  understanding  between  the  men,  the  man- 
agement, and  the  community. 


Ill 

THE   RAILROADS   AND   EFFICIENCY  OF 
SERVICE 

THERE  is  in  this  country  to-day  an  ever  widening 
circle  of  people  who  desire  to  look  beneath  the 
surface  of  things.  In  this  way  the  teachings  and 
works  of  politicians,  merchants,  ministers,  and  rail- 
road men,  are  being  constantly  subjected  to  a 
searching  probe  of  inner  criticism.  In  a  score  of 
different  ways  we  desire  to  get  at  the  truth  and 
meaning  of  life,  whether  in  regard  to  labor  condi- 
tions or  to  social  surroundings. 

The  public  anxiety  to  which  I  refer  has  a  very 
practical  origin.  On  the  railroads,  for  example,  the 
problems  relating  to  inefficiency  and  safety  of  opera- 
tion are  peculiarly  calculated  to  arouse  widespread 
interest.  But  safety  and  efficiency  are  results  ;  con- 
sequently we  are  first  called  upon  to  consider  the 
methods  by  means  of  which  these  desirable  condi- 
tions are  now  being  encouraged  and  worked  out  in 
industrial  circles.  From  the  fact,  then,  that  on  our 
railroads  labor  is  organized  and  firmly  entrenched, 
and  for  the  additional  reason  that  the  organization 
to-day  is  probably  the  most  powerful  influence  at 


EFFICIENCY  OF   SERVICE  73 

abuse  owes  its  origin  to  a  deep  sympathy  for  a 
brotherhood  man  in  trouble.  The  result  is  that 
certain  classes  of  employees  are  careless  in  their 
observance  of  the  rules,  in  accordance  with  the  atti- 
tude of  their  organization  in  fighting  for  disciplined 
members.  Officials  are  well  aware,  and  brotherhood 
men  well  know,  that  these  conditions  exist,  and 
that  they  vary,  too,  according  to  the  conservative 
methods  employed  by  the  different  organizations;  but 
we  all  know  that  they  do  exist  to  a  greater  or  lesser 
extent  in  all  of  them.  And  yet  brotherhood  men, 
through  a  mistaken  sense  of  loyalty  or  fealty  to 
their  order,  refuse  to  admit,  except  to  other  mem- 
bers, that  such  things  are  done.  I  believe  that  it 
is  a  very  serious  abuse  of  power,  and  one  that  does 
not  advance  the  interests  of  organized  labor ;  and 
which  also  has  the  grave  tendency  of  blocking  the 
proper  enforcement  of  disciplinary  measures." 

Brotherhood  men  all  over  the  country  have  had 
their  attention  called  to  this  article  in  the  "  Santa 
F£  Employees'  Magazine,"  and  they  are  giving  the 
subject  serious  attention. 

Having  thus  described  to  the  best  of  my  ability 
the  status  of  the  labor  problem  as  we  find  it  to-day 
on  our  railroads,  and  the  dilemma  in  regard  to  it 
which  society  has  to  consider,  one  turns  naturally 
to  remedies  and  influences  that  are  now  engaging 


74          LABOR  AND   THE   RAILROADS 

the  attention  of  sociologists  and  thinkers.  Turn  where 
we  will,  there  are  indications  that  the  problems 
relating  to  efficiency,  and  to  the  educating  and 
training  of  the  worker,  are  being  studied  with  the 
greatest  seriousness. 

Sociologists  and  others  who  make  the  study  of 
industrial  conditions  a  specialty,  are  insisting  upon 
the  establishment  of  trade  schools  as  the  best  pos- 
sible remedy.  President  Eliot,  of  Harvard  Univer- 
sity, for  example,  has  very  decided  opinions  on  the 
subject.  He  has  this  to  say:  "Public  trades-schools, 
which  are  greatly  hampered  by  trades  unions,  are  be- 
ing started  in  Boston,  and  all  over  the  United  States. 
The  movement  must  be  persevered  in  by  the  Amer- 
ican people.  Employers  and  the  people  cannot,  must 
not,  yield  to  the  unions." 

Among  the  first  to  recognize  the  soundness  of 
this  advice,  and  the  necessity  of  taking  action  in  the 
matter,  are  the  railroad  managers.  Complaint  is  con- 
stantly being  made  that  the  supply  of  skilled  work- 
ers in  the  railroad  shops  is  short,  and  that  the 
majority  are  incompetent.  To  supply  the  demand, 
the  Grand  Trunk  railway  system  has  adopted  a  form 
of  apprenticeship,  which  has  been  in  successful  oper- 
ation for  a  number  of  years,  and  has  been  the  means 
of  supplying  that  company  with  skilled  mechanics. 

All  apprentices  are  indentured  to  the  machinist's 
trade  for  five  years,  and  to  the  blacksmith's,  boiler- 


EFFICIENCY  OF   SERVICE  75 

maker's,  or  other  trades  for  four  years.  The  system 
insures  thorough  education  in  all  details  of  the  trades. 
It  has  been  found  of  great  advantage  both  to  the 
company  and  to  the  apprentice.  It  has  a  tendency 
to  keep  the  apprentice  satisfied,  and  to  steady  his 
energies  along  the  required  lines. 

The  advocates  of  the  trades-schools  point  to  Eu- 
rope, and  in  particular  to  Germany,  and  say,  "  Study 
the  schools  and  methods  of  these  foreign  countries, 
and  take  warning  in  time.  Bring  up  the  youth  in  the 
way  he  should  go,  and  when  he  enters  the  service 
of  the  railroad,  he  will  not  depart  from  it."  But  any 
one  who  has  worked  in  a  machine-shop,  or  drawn  a 
day's  pay  on  the  railroad,  if  he  chooses  to  give  an 
impartial  opinion,  would  tell  these  sociologists  that 
technical  education  is  by  no  means  the  complete 
guide  and  key  to  efficiency  of  service. 

Altogether  this  question  of  efficiency,  of  the  best 
possible  service,  is  the  goal  to  which  the  best 
endeavors  and  the  industrial  conscience  of  America 
are  now  pressing  forward.  Public  opinion  demands 
that  we  dig  to  the  root  of  the  matter,  and  begin  at 
the  beginning.  So  we  are  now  going  into  our  schools 
and  colleges,  and  we  propose  to  give  the  rising  gen- 
eration all  sorts  of  facts  and  information  relating  to 
industrial  life.  This  education  of  youth  is  to  include 
mental  and  technical  equipment  of  every  description. 
After  the  student  has  received  the  instruction  that 


76          LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

will  enable  him,  not  only  to  run  the  machinery,  but 
to  know  all  about  the  ingenuities  and  forces  con- 
nected with  it,  he  is  to  be  given  an  insight  into  the 
world  of  affairs.  No  phase  or  incident  connected 
with  the  managing  department  is  to  be  considered 
too  trifling ;  no  world  issue  or  abstract  proposition 
too  large.  His  education  is  to  begin  with  the  trifles 
connected  with  the  routine  of  a  day's  work,  and  is 
to  be  followed  all  the  way  up  to  the  realm  of  high 
politics  that  enables  Mr.  Harriman  to  manipulate 
millions  of  dollars,  and  Mr.  Gompers  to  handle 
millions  of  men.  In  a  word,  the  young  man  of 
the  future  is  to  be  equipped  from  head  to  foot 
with  industrial  facts  and  information. 

When  we  look  into  the  matter  carefully,  we  find 
the  simplest  kind  of  a  reason  for  the  difficulties  with 
which,  at  the  present  day,  the  problem  of  efficiency 
is  surrounded.  It  is  essentially  an  American  prob- 
lem, due  to  abnormal  expansion  of  the  national  mind, 
which  in  the  past  has  been  so  much  occupied  with 
size  and  material  results  that  there  has  been  no  time 
to  pay  attention  to  detail  and  thoroughness.  In  this 
way  the  spirit  with  which  the  community  has  be- 
come possessed  is  actually  the  father  and  prompter 
of  inefficiency.  This  is  true  to  a  great  extent  in  the 
public  schools.  When  I  read  the  curriculum,  or  am 
informed  of  the  opportunity  of  the  boy  to  absorb,  if 
he  only  will,  or  can,  every  branch  and  byway  of 


EFFICIENCY  OF  SERVICE  77 

knowledge,  my  admiration  is  unlimited;  but  when 
the  boy  has  left  school,  I  find  to  my  sorrow  that, 
generally  speaking,  he  rarely  knows  anything  well. 
But  it  is  to  little  purpose  that  you  single  out  the 
railroad  man  and  concentrate  your  attention  on  him 
and  his  failings.  So  far  as  railroads  and  railroad  ac- 
cidents are  concerned,  public  methods  and  public 
opinion  are  actually  the  promoters  of  inefficiency. 
This  is  not  only  a  curious  statement,  it  is  also  a  very 
important  and  interesting  one.  We  are  all  aware  how 
interested  the  American  public  is  in  generalities, 
in  totals,  in  conditions  relating  to  labor  or  accidents, 
reduced  into  the  form  of  short  and  eloquent  tables 
of  statistics.  The  press,  in  touch  with  the  require- 
ments of  the  public,  delights  in  this  kind  of  educa- 
tional literature.  There  seems  to  be  little  desire  in  any 
quarter  to  concentrate  attention  on  the  concrete  ex- 
ample, to  take  hold  of,  and  so  far  as  possible  settle, 
a  question  of  an  accident  on  some  particular  spot, 
and  then  extend  our  exact  remedy  and  method  un- 
til we  are  able  to  arrive  at  general  and  well-grounded 
conclusions.  Far  from  desiring  such  minute  and 
thorough  investigations  of  conditions,  the  following 
report  may  be  taken  as  a  sample  of  what  the  pub- 
lic has  been  satisfied  to  receive  from  its  different 
bureaus  as  the  limit  of  practical  investigation,  ever 
since  commissioners  and  other  investigators  began 
to  draw  salaries. 


78           LABOR  AND   THE  RAILROADS 

How  much  does  America  pay  every  year  in  human 
life  for  her  civilization  ?  The  government  is  always 
discovering  remarkable  facts  through  its  various 
bureaus  of  statistics.  This  is  one  of  the  most  start- 
ling of  all.  More  people  are  being  killed  every  year 
in  the  United  States  during  times  of  peace  than  in 
the  bloodiest  battles  of  history.  America  is  the 
world's  slaughter-house  for  human  beings.  It  is  the 
price  America  pays  for  her  civilization.  During  a 
single  year  57,5 13  American  men,  women,  and  child- 
ren were  killed  or  wounded  by  accident.  During  the 
last  nineteen  years  the  railroads  of  America  have 
killed  143,527  persons.  During  the  same  period 
931,450  persons  have  been  injured  by  American 
railroads.  The  railroad  toll  alone  for  twenty  years 
has  been  more  than  1,000,000  American  fathers  and 
wives  and  children.  During  the  last  seventeen  years 
American  coal  mines  have  killed  22,840  men,  made 
at  least  10,000  widows  and  upward  of  40,000  orphans. 
The  total  cost  of  Cuba  and  the  Philippines  has  been 
less  than  2000  American  lives.  During  a  single 
year  American  street  railways  killed  and  injured  a 
few  less  than  49,000  persons.  In  New  York  the 
record  of  only  twenty-seven  days  showed  42  deaths 
and  5500  injuries.  Every  year  6000  Americans  lose 
their  lives  in  fires.  American  industrial  plants  are 
estimated  to  kill  every  year  at  least  25,000  men,  and 
to  injure  125,000  more.  American  building  opera- 


EFFICIENCY  OF   SERVICE  79 

tions  cost  3000  lives  every  year,  and  10,000  other 
persons  sustain  injuries.  Pleasure  costs  more  than 
looo  American  lives  each  year.  The  American  auto- 
mobile accidents  of  last  year  took  229  lives,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  thousands  more  or  less  seriously  in- 
jured. American  drownings  last  year  numbered  492. 
There  are  1000  American  murders  each  year.  Each 
American  Fourth  of  July  costs  approximately  500 
lives,  with  injuries  to  4000  other  merrymakers.  All 
of  which  means  that  each  and  every  year  the  United 
States  yields  up  the  lives  of  60,000  of  its  citizens 
in  payment  for  its  civilization. 

Of  course  it  is  evident  that  a  great  deal  of  honest 
work  has  been  expended  in  securing  and  tabulating 
reports  of  this  nature,  but  I  think  it  goes  without 
saying  that  something  more  definite  and  useful  is 
called  for  in  the  treating  of  railroad  accidents,  which, 
bunched  together  for  public  instruction,  reveal  such 
astonishing  totals. 

Let  us  take  an  illustration :  The  other  day,  in  a 
Boston  freight  yard,  an  employee  waited  for  a  freight 
train  to  pull  by,  and  then,  being  in  a  hurry,  he  ran 
over  on  to  the  next  track  and  was  instantly  killed  by 
a  locomotive  moving  in  the  opposite  direction. 
Catching  a  glimpse  of  the  man  in  front  of  the  en- 
gine, the  engineer  had  given  a  sharp  whistle,  but 
of  course  it  was  too  late.  Without  any  comment, 
this  accident  was  looked  into  by  the  authorities  and 


8o          LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

added  to  the  list  of  unavoidable  fatalities.  A  few 
days  later,  a  telegraph  line-man  met  the  same  fate 
in  the  same  way  in  a  different  locality. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  hundreds  of  lives  are  annu- 
ally sacrificed  in  identically  the  same  way.  This  has 
been  going  on  for  years,  and  if  one  consults  the 
reports  of  national  or  state  commissioners,  no  refer- 
ence to,  or  at  any  rate  no  study  of,  this  particular 
kind  of  an  accident  will  be  found  except  as  it'  can 
be  imagined  under  the  general  head  of  "Miscella- 
neous. "  Studying  this  accident  for  ourselves,  how- 
ever, we  find  that  these  human  lives  are  thrown  away 
because  the  victim  forgets  to  stop,  look,  and  listen. 
The  fact  that  theoretically  it  is  the  victim's  own 
fault  has  actually  silenced  all  public  inquiry  or  en- 
deavor on  the  part  of  men,  managers,  or  people,  to 
come  to  the  rescue  of  unfortunates  who  are  liable 
to  get  caught  in  this  way.  And  yet,  if  humanity 
were  to  apply  the  same  method  and  principle  to 
sickness,  or  to  forgetfulness  in  warding  off  other 
dangers  that  our  flesh  is  constantly  exposed  to, 
society  nowadays  would  be  in  a  pitiable  position. 

As  regards  this  specific  accident,  railroad  men 
are  well  aware  that  the  most  careful  employee  is  at 
all  times  liable  to  get  killed  in  this  way,  as  well  as 
the  farmer  on  the  crossing  in  the  country. 

In  my  opinion,  the  public  and  the  management 
of  the  railroads  could  immediately  cut  the  casualty 


EFFICIENCY  OF   SERVICE  81 

list,  from  this  and  similar  causes,  in  half,  by  getting 
after  every  specific  accident  and  by  treating  it  in 
a  common-sense  and  practical  manner. 

There  is  still  one  point  or  phase  of  the  efficiency 
problem  on  American  railroads  to  which  the  atten- 
tion of  the  public  is  frequently  directed.  In  a  word, 
we  all  look  with  astonishment  and  envy  at  the  acci- 
dent records  of  European  railroads.  From  various 
quarters  come  statistics  in  regard  to  the  road-bed, 
the  density  of  traffic,  the  general  conditions  under 
which  trains  are  moved, — from  which  information 
we  are  called  upon  to  bunch  together  and  frame  our 
excuses  for  inefficiency  as  best  we  can.  It  is  all  to  no 
purpose.  If  people  will  only  take  the  trouble  to 
study  the  actual  accidents  and  the  way  they  take 
place,  they  will  quickly  discover  that  very  few  acci- 
dents are  common  to  European  and  American  rail- 
roads. The  American  accident  is  a  characteristic 
of  personal  behavior,  which,  in  fact,  has  no  counter- 
part in  any  other  part  of  the  world. 

The  compass  and  trend  of  American  progress 
points  to  these  accidents  as  the  natural  outcome  of 
freedom  of  thought  and  action  running  riot.  This 
is  no  ill-considered  statement.  For  a  number  of 
years  there  has  been  a  scramble  in  almost  every 
line  of  industrial  behavior  to  kick  over  the  traces. 
In  many  directions  the  results  have  been  surpris- 
ingly beneficial,  but  on  the  railroad  the  principle 


82          LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

has  proved  to  be  surrounded  with  numerous  and 
well-defined  dangers.  Illustrations  of  this  fact  are 
to  be  met  with  on  every  side,  and  they  are  very 
significant. 

For  example,  "taking  chances"  is  distinctly  a 
characteristic  of  American  railroading.  You  will 
search  in  vain  on  European  railroads  for  accidents 
of  this  nature.  The  European  railroad  man  is  too 
stolid,  —  too  stupid,  if  we  prefer  the  term,  —  at  any 
rate  he  is  too  methodical,  to  get  caught  in  this  way. 
He  has  been  too  long  accustomed  to  the  rut  of 
unquestioning  obedience  in  matters  relating  to  the 
safety  of  travel ;  and  I  think  it  would  be  an  easy 
matter  to  demonstrate  that  the  difference  between 
the  records  on  American  and  European  railroads 
is  to  be  found  in  these  accidents  that  are  distress- 
ingly typical  of  American  temperament.  Making 
use  of  a  significant  illustration,  —  on  our  railroads 
to-day  the  kicker  is  king.  We  kick  against  discipline, 
we  kick  against  merit  and  ability  as  factors  in  pro- 
motion, we  kick  against  publicity  of  almost  any 
description ;  but  there  is  one  feature  of  our  occupa- 
tion and  duties  that  has  escaped  our  attention :  we 
don't  kick  against  the  accident  record. 

Summing  up,  then,  and  reviewing  the  evidence, 
what  is  the  conclusion  to  be  arrived  at  in  regard  to 
this  charge  of  industrial  disloyalty  on  the  railroads 


EFFICIENCY   OF   SERVICE  83 

which  Mr.  Hugo  makes  in  such  emphatic  language  ? 
"Unless  society  deteriorates,"  we  are  told,  "it  must 
give  free  play  to  liberty,  variety,  and  individuality." 
The  railroad  man  is  world-wide  in  his  sympathies, 
but  I  think  I  have  made  it  plain  that  his  behavior 
and  duties  on  the  railroad  are  arranged  and  regu- 
lated by  his  committee.  He  now  consults  his  sched- 
ule to  discover  how  much  liberty,  how  much  variety, 
how  much  individuality,  it  is  lawful  for  him  to  ex- 
ercise. The  man  is  organized,  grouped,  and  scheduled 
into  items,  and  when  the  mechanical  process  is 
complete,  liberty,  variety,  and  individuality  have 
disappeared.  The  future  of  the  race  depends  upon 
the  cultivation  of  these  social  forces,  and  efficiency 
of  work  and  service  are  very  important  branches  of 
social  development.  Finally,  then,  the  efficiency 
problem  is  the  employers'  problem.  Far  be  it  from 
me  to  criticise  the  American  railroad  employee  so 
far  as  his  honesty  of  purpose  is  concerned ;  but  we 
must  all  agree  that  a  certain  number  of  deplorable 
accidents  have  happened,  and  are  still  continuing 
to  happen.  A  minority  of  railroad  men  are  account- 
able in  some  way  for  these  fatalities.  Now,  the  only 
power  in  the  United  States  to-day  that  is  able 
peacefully,  radically,  and  permanently  to  reach  and 
influence  this  responsible  minority  is  the  railroad 
labor  organization.  The  centre  of  influence  upon 
the  personality  of  the  men  has  passed,  to  a  very 


84          LABOR  AND  THE   RAILROADS 

great  extent,  into  the  hands  of  the  union.  This  is 
the  power  behind  the  men  at  the  present  day,  that 
can  be  exerted  in  a  variety  of  ways  in  the  interests 
of  efficiency. 

Just  at  present  along  these  lines  there  is  very 
little  doing.  Nevertheless  on  all  sides,  among  rail- 
road men,  there  are  indications  of  awakening.  We 
are  all  right  and  wrong  in  spots.  But  this  safety 
problem,  and  the  wider  problems  of  efficiency  in 
industrial  life,  are  bigger  than  any  man  or  collection 
of  men  who  dislike  to  be  criticised.  I  am  a  firm  be- 
liever in  the  splendid  prospects  and  future  of  the 
railroad  man,  but  there  are  breakers  ahead  of  him, 
and  storms  to  weather. 

So  intimately  related  to  the  conduct  and  policy 
of  the  railroad  organization  is  this  matter  of  effi- 
ciency, that  I  think  I  am  justified  in  applying  the 
memorable  words  of  Abraham  Lincoln  to  the  acci- 
dent situation,  and  in  saying  that  it  is  now  for  rail- 
road men  themselves  to  determine  that  these  dead 
shall  not  have  died  in  vain,  and  that  we  by  our 
policy  and  conduct  in  the  future,  under  God,  shall 
take  on  a  new  birth  of  freedom. 


IV 
THE  RAILROADS  AND  PUBLICITY 

A  SHORT  time  ago,  in  a  speech  made  to  a  class 
in  Economics  at  Harvard  University,  Dr.  Charles 
W.  Eliot  made  the  following  statement :  — 

"A  great  remedy  —  possibly  the  remedy  —  for 
strikes  and  troubles  between  capital  and  labor,  is 
publicity.  Is  it  not  a  great  comfort,  after  all,  that 
publicity  is  the  great  remedy  for  public  wrong,  or 
private  wrong,  for  that  matter  ?  Why  is  it  ?  Be- 
cause the  majority  of  people  in  this  world,  despite 
all  ancient  theological  teachings,  want  to  do  what 
is  right." 

Here  we  have  a  solution  of  industrial  problems 
theoretically  enunciated.  The  application  of  this 
theory  to  the  situation  on  the  railroads,  and  to  the 
policy  and  work  of  managers  and  labor  organiza- 
tions, brings  to  the  surface  a  most  interesting  story. 

In  its  best  educational  meaning,  publicity  stands 
for  knowledge,  enlightenment,  efficiency,  the  best 
possible  type  of  manhood  and  womanhood,  and  for 
social  betterment  in  every  direction.  On  the  rail- 
roads, for  example,  it  is  an  easy  matter  to  demon- 
strate to  what  a  wonderful  degree  publicity  means 


86          LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

prevention  as  well  as  cure.  The  success  of  any 
campaign  to  secure  greater  efficiency  of  service  and 
to  improve  the  standards  and  ideals  of  the  workers 
is  now  to  be  fought  out  and  secured  by  means  of 
this  powerful  agency.  There  was  a  time  when  it 
did  not  make  so  much  difference  what  was  known 
or  what  was  concealed,  for  the  reason  that  the  public 
conscience  was  to  a  great  extent  indifferent ;  but 
to-day  society  is  keenly  alive  to  the  situation,  and 
recognizes  the  fact  that  publicity  is  the  most  power- 
ful and  wholesome  educator  in  the  laboratory  of 
social  science. 

While,  then,  generally  speaking,  the  publicity 
method  will  be  found  to  result  in  a  useful  know- 
ledge of  conditions,  of  methods,  and  of  men,  there 
is  also  concealed  in  it  an  art  of  a  very  practical  de- 
scription. In  everyday  life  and  work  this  may  be 
termed  the  art  of  social  persuasion  and  uplift.  In 
municipal,  as  well  as  in  industrial  affairs,  the  best 
possible  conditions  are  always  fostered  and  encour- 
aged by  absolute  publicity  ;  the  worst  imaginable  by 
political  and  industrial  secrecy.  To  convert  the  lat- 
ter into  the  former,  with  or  without  legislation,  is 
the  mission  of  social  persuasion.  This  social  better- 
ment instinct,  in  this  country  at  any  rate,  always 
has  the  majority  at  its  back.  It  is  always  reaching 
out  into  the  future  where  majority  interests  are 
centred.  From  barbarism  to  the  projected  effi- 


THE  RAILROADS   AND   PUBLICITY      87 

ciency  of  the  highest  civilization  is  almost  an  infinite 
span.  Publicity,  as  I  am  about  to  explain  it,  is  the 
highest  point  in  the  climbing  process  that  has  yet 
been  reached  by  human  effort  and  the  human  con- 
science. For  centuries,  with  very  little  force  or 
method  behind  it,  publicity  has  been  knocking  at 
the  gate  of  human  progress,  but  not  until  lately  has 
its  widespread  significance  been  understood.  In  the 
industrial  world,  for  example,  we  are  now  beginning 
to  understand  that  publicity,  or  social  persuasion,  is 
actually  the  art  of  bringing  labor  and  capital,  men 
and  managers,  together  in  the  interest  of  the  people. 
Its  present  and  prospective  value  as  the  most  use- 
ful agency  in  betterment  work  can  be  emphasized 
by  a  glance  at  the  industrial  situation. 

Turn  where  we  will  at  the  present  day,  we  find 
the  distinguishing  feature  of  the  industrial  world 
to  be  specialization  for  material  ends  and  purposes. 
The  struggle  of  authority  to  hold  its  ground,  of 
capital  to  retain  its  supremacy  and  to  reap  its  har- 
vest, of  labor  to  assert  itself  and  to  secure  its  due 
proportion  of  profits,  has  brought  into  active  service 
an  army  of  specialists,  whose  life-work  seems  to 
consist  in  upsetting  the  plans  and  defeating  the 
specialties  of  their  competitors.  Under  the  direc- 
tion of  these  trained  specialists,  the  different  inter- 
ests have  formed  themselves  into  isolated  group- 
centres.  In  order  to  safeguard  their  possessions, 


88          LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

and  to  ward  off  interference,  these  group-centres 
have  surrounded  themselves  with  all  kinds  of  finan- 
cial, legal,  and  legislative  barricades. 

The  railroad  world  in  particular  is  completely  roped 
off  and  specialized  in  this  manner.  These  groups 
of  capitalists,  workers,  and  managers  can  neither 
be  broken  up  nor  scattered  by  legal  or  legislative 
action.  With  their  group-interests  and  group-ideals, 
these  people  are  narrowing  the  horizon  of  national 
life.  The  specialists  who  manage  their  affairs  and 
preside  over  their  councils  are  seldom  permitted  to 
extend  their  vision,  or  exercise  their  sympathies, 
an  inch  beyond  their  own  premises  and  interests. 
With  their  limited  vision,  these  groups  are  socially 
incomplete.  They  lack  the  salt  of  a  wide  social 
brotherhood.  The  social  conscience  must  now  take 
them  in  hand,  and  inoculate  them  with  the  leaven 
of  a  wider  philanthropy.  The  original  soulless  cor- 
poration has  already  been  purged  of  its  most  fla- 
grant abuses.  It  has  now  joined  the  brotherhood 
of  groups,  and  is  no  better  and  no  worse  than  the 
rest  of  them.  In  this  way  the  problem  has  widened, 
and  become  more  intense.  Its  economic  importance 
has  been  dwarfed  by  a  paramount  human  issue.  It 
is,  first  of  all,  a  question  of  American  manhood  and 
womanhood.  In  the  interest  of  social  betterment 
it  thus  becomes  the  business  of  publicity,  or  the 
art  of  social  persuasion,  to  see  what  can  be  done 


EFFICIENCY  OF   SERVICE  73 

abuse  owes  its  origin  to  a  deep  sympathy  for  a 
brotherhood  man  in  trouble.  The  result  is  that 
certain  classes  of  employees  are  careless  in  their 
observance  of  the  rules,  in  accordance  with  the  atti- 
tude of  their  organization  in  fighting  for  disciplined 
members.  Officials  are  well  aware,  and  brotherhood 
men  well  know,  that  these  conditions  exist,  and 
that  they  vary,  too,  according  to  the  conservative 
methods  employed  by  the  different  organizations;  but 
we  all  know  that  they  do  exist  to  a  greater  or  lesser 
extent  in  all  of  them.  And  yet  brotherhood  men, 
through  a  mistaken  sense  of  loyalty  or  fealty  to 
their  order,  refuse  to  admit,  except  to  other  mem- 
bers, that  such  things  are  done.  I  believe  that  it 
is  a  very  serious  abuse  of  power,  and  one  that  does 
not  advance  the  interests  of  organized  labor;  and 
which  also  has  the  grave  tendency  of  blocking  the 
proper  enforcement  of  disciplinary  measures." 

Brotherhood  men  all  over  the  country  have  had 
their  attention  called  to  this  article  in  the  "  Santa 
F£  Employees'  Magazine,"  and  they  are  giving  the 
subject  serious  attention. 

Having  thus  described  to  the  best  of  my  ability 
the  status  of  the  labor  problem  as  we  find  it  to-day 
on  our  railroads,  and  the  dilemma  in  regard  to  it 
which  society  has  to  consider,  one  turns  naturally 
to  remedies  and  influences  that  are  now  engaging 


74          LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

the  attention  of  sociologists  and  thinkers.  Turn  where 
we  will,  there  are  indications  that  the  problems 
relating  to  efficiency,  and  to  the  educating  and 
training  of  the  worker,  are  being  studied  with  the 
greatest  seriousness. 

Sociologists  and  others  who  make  the  study  of 
industrial  conditions  a  specialty,  are  insisting  upon 
the  establishment  of  trade  schools  as  the  best  pos- 
sible remedy.  President  Eliot,  of  Harvard  Univer- 
sity, for  example,  has  very  decided  opinions  on  the 
subject.  He  has  this  to  say:  "Public  trades-schools, 
which  are  greatly  hampered  by  trades  unions,  are  be- 
ing started  in  Boston,  and  all  over  the  United  States. 
The  movement  must  be  persevered  in  by  the  Amer- 
ican people.  Employers  and  the  people  cannot,  must 
not,  yield  to  the  unions." 

Among  the  first  to  recognize  the  soundness  of 
this  advice,  and  the  necessity  of  taking  action  in  the 
matter,  are  the  railroad  managers.  Complaint  is  con- 
stantly being  made  that  the  supply  of  skilled  work- 
ers in  the  railroad  shops  is  short,  and  that  the 
majority  are  incompetent.  To  supply  the  demand, 
the  Grand  Trunk  railway  system  has  adopted  a  form 
of  apprenticeship,  which  has  been  in  successful  oper- 
ation for  a  number  of  years,  and  has  been  the  means 
of  supplying  that  company  with  skilled  mechanics. 

All  apprentices  are  indentured  to  the  machinist's 
trade  for  five  years,  and  to  the  blacksmith's,  boiler- 


EFFICIENCY  OF  SERVICE  75 

maker's,  or  other  trades  for  four  years.  The  system 
insures  thorough  education  in  all  details  of  the  trades. 
It  has  been  found  of  great  advantage  both  to  the 
company  and  to  the  apprentice.  It  has  a  tendency 
to  keep  the  apprentice  satisfied,  and  to  steady  his 
energies  along  the  required  lines. 

The  advocates  of  the  trades-schools  point  to  Eu- 
rope, and  in  particular  to  Germany,  and  say,  "  Study 
the  schools  and  methods  of  these  foreign  countries, 
and  take  warning  in  time.  Bring  up  the  youth  in  the 
way  he  should  go,  and  when  he  enters  the  service 
of  the  railroad,  he  will  not  depart  from  it."  But  any 
one  who  has  worked  in  a  machine-shop,  or  drawn  a 
day's  pay  on  the  railroad,  if  he  chooses  to  give  an 
impartial  opinion,  would  tell  these  sociologists  that 
technical  education  is  by  no  means  the  complete 
guide  and  key  to  efficiency  of  service. 

Altogether  this  question  of  efficiency,  of  the  best 
possible  service,  is  the  goal  to  which  the  best 
endeavors  and  the  industrial  conscience  of  America 
are  now  pressing  forward.  Public  opinion  demands 
that  we  dig  to  the  root  of  the  matter,  and  begin  at 
the  beginning.  So  we  are  now  going  into  our  schools 
and  colleges,  and  we  propose  to  give  the  rising  gen- 
eration all  sorts  of  facts  and  information  relating  to 
industrial  life.  This  education  of  youth  is  to  include 
mental  and  technical  equipment  of  every  description. 
After  the  student  has  received  the  instruction  that 


;6          LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

will  enable  him,  not  only  to  run  the  machinery,  but 
to  know  all  about  the  ingenuities  and  forces  con- 
nected with  it,  he  is  to  be  given  an  insight  into  the 
world  of  affairs.  No  phase  or  incident  connected 
with  the  managing  department  is  to  be  considered 
too  trifling ;  no  world  issue  or  abstract  proposition 
too  large.  His  education  is  to  begin  with  the  trifles 
connected  with  the  routine  of  a  day's  work,  and  is 
to  be  followed  all  the  way  up  to  the  realm  of  high 
politics  that  enables  Mr.  Harriman  to  manipulate 
millions  of  dollars,  and  Mr.  Gompers  to  handle 
millions  of  men.  In  a  word,  the  young  man  of 
the  future  is  to  be  equipped  from  head  to  foot 
with  industrial  facts  and  information. 

When  we  look  into  the  matter  carefully,  we  find 
the  simplest  kind  of  a  reason  for  the  difficulties  with 
which,  at  the  present  day,  the  problem  of  efficiency 
is  surrounded.  It  is  essentially  an  American  prob- 
lem, due  to  abnormal  expansion  of  the  national  mind, 
which  in  the  past  has  been  so  much  occupied  with 
size  and  material  results  that  there  has  been  no  time 
to  pay  attention  to  detail  and  thoroughness.  In  this 
way  the  spirit  with  which  the  community  has  be- 
come possessed  is  actually  the  father  and  prompter 
of  inefficiency.  This  is  true  to  a  great  extent  in  the 
public  schools.  When  I  read  the  curriculum,  or  am 
informed  of  the  opportunity  of  the  boy  to  absorb,  if 
he  only  will,  or  can,  every  branch  and  byway  of 


EFFICIENCY  OF   SERVICE  77 

knowledge,  my  admiration  is  unlimited ;  but  when 
the  boy  has  left  school,  I  find  to  my  sorrow  that, 
generally  speaking,  he  rarely  knows  anything  well. 
But  it  is  to  little  purpose  that  you  single  out  the 
railroad  man  and  concentrate  your  attention  on  him 
and  his  failings.  So  far  as  railroads  and  railroad  ac- 
cidents are  concerned,  public  methods  and  public 
opinion  are  actually  the  promoters  of  inefficiency. 
This  is  not  only  a  curious  statement,  it  is  also  a  very 
important  and  interesting  one.  We  are  all  aware  how 
interested  the  American  public  is  in  generalities, 
in  totals,  in  conditions  relating  to  labor  or  accidents, 
reduced  into  the  form  of  short  and  eloquent  tables 
of  statistics.  The  press,  in  touch  with  the  require- 
ments of  the  public,  delights  in  this  kind  of  educa- 
tional literature.  There  seems  to  be  little  desire  in  any 
quarter  to  concentrate  attention  on  the  concrete  ex- 
ample, to  take  hold  of,  and  so  far  as  possible  settle, 
a  question  of  an  accident  on  some  particular  spot, 
and  then  extend  our  exact  remedy  and  method  un- 
til we  are  able  to  arrive  at  general  and  well-grounded 
conclusions.  Far  from  desiring  such  minute  and 
thorough  investigations  of  conditions,  the  following 
report  may  be  taken  as  a  sample  of  what  the  pub- 
lic has  been  satisfied  to  receive  from  its  different 
bureaus  as  the  limit  of  practical  investigation,  ever 
since  commissioners  and  other  investigators  began 
to  draw  salaries. 


78           LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

How  much  does  America  pay  every  year  in  human 
life  for  her  civilization  ?  The  government  is  always 
discovering  remarkable  facts  through  its  various 
bureaus  of  statistics.  This  is  one  of  the  most  start- 
ling of  all.  More  people  are  being  killed  every  year 
in  the  United  States  during  times  of  peace  than  in 
the  bloodiest  battles  of  history.  America  is  the 
world's  slaughter-house  for  human  beings.  It  is  the 
price  America  pays  for  her  civilization.  During  a 
single  year  57,5 13  American  men,  women,  and  child- 
ren were  killed  or  wounded  by  accident.  During  the 
last  nineteen  years  the  railroads  of  America  have 
killed  143,527  persons.  During  the  same  period 
931,450  persons  have  been  injured  by  American 
railroads.  The  railroad  toll  alone  for  twenty  years 
has  been  more  than  1,000,000  American  fathers  and 
wives  and  children.  During  the  last  seventeen  years 
American  coal  mines  have  killed  22,840  men,  made 
at  least  10,000  widows  and  upward  of  40,000  orphans. 
The  total  cost  of  Cuba  and  the  Philippines  has  been 
less  than  2000  American  lives.  During  a  single 
year  American  street  railways  killed  and  injured  a 
few  less  than  49,000  persons.  In  New  York  the 
record  of  only  twenty-seven  days  showed  42  deaths 
and  5500  injuries.  Every  year  6000  Americans  lose 
their  lives  in  fires.  American  industrial  plants  are 
estimated  to  kill  every  year  at  least  25,000  men,  and 
to  injure  125,000  more.  American  building  opera- 


EFFICIENCY  OF   SERVICE  79 

tions  cost  3000  lives  every  year,  and  10,000  other 
persons  sustain  injuries.  Pleasure  costs  more  than 
looo  American  lives  each  year.  The  American  auto- 
mobile accidents  of  last  year  took  229  lives,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  thousands  more  or  less  seriously  in- 
jured. American  drownings  last  year  numbered  492. 
There  are  1000  American  murders  each  year.  Each 
American  Fourth  of  July  costs  approximately  500 
lives,  with  injuries  to  4000  other  merrymakers.  All 
of  which  means  that  each  and  every  year  the  United 
States  yields  up  the  lives  of  60,000  of  its  citizens 
in  payment  for  its  civilization. 

Of  course  it  is  evident  that  a  great  deal  of  honest 
work  has  been  expended  in  securing  and  tabulating 
reports  of  this  nature,  but  I  think  it  goes  without 
saying  that  something  more  definite  and  useful  is 
called  for  in  the  treating  of  railroad  accidents,  which, 
bunched  together  for  public  instruction,  reveal  such 
astonishing  totals. 

Let  us  take  an  illustration :  The  other  day,  in  a 
Boston  freight  yard,  an  employee  waited  for  a  freight 
train  to  pull  by,  and  then,  being  in  a  hurry,  he  ran 
over  on  to  the  next  track  and  was  instantly  killed  by 
a  locomotive  moving  in  the  opposite  direction. 
Catching  a  glimpse  of  the  man  in  front  of  the  en- 
gine, the  engineer  had  given  a  sharp  whistle,  but 
of  course  it  was  too  late.  Without  any  comment, 
this  accident  was  looked  into  by  the  authorities  and 


8o          LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

added  to  the  list  of  unavoidable  fatalities.  A  few 
days  later,  a  telegraph  line-man  met  the  same  fate 
in  the  same  way  in  a  different  locality. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  hundreds  of  lives  are  annu- 
ally sacrificed  in  identically  the  same  way.  This  has 
been  going  on  for  years,  and  if  one  consults  the 
reports  of  national  or  state  commissioners,  no  refer- 
ence to,  or  at  any  rate  no  study  of,  this  particular 
kind  of  an  accident  will  be  found  except  as  it  can 
be  imagined  under  the  general  head  of  "Miscella- 
neous. "  Studying  this  accident  for  ourselves,  how- 
ever, we  find  that  these  human  lives  are  thrown  away 
because  the  victim  forgets  to  stop,  look,  and  listen. 
The  fact  that  theoretically  it  is  the  victim's  own 
fault  has  actually  silenced  all  public  inquiry  or  en- 
deavor on  the  part  of  men,  managers,  or  people,  to 
come  to  the  rescue  of  unfortunates  who  are  liable 
to  get  caught  in  this  way.  And  yet,  if  humanity 
were  to  apply  the  same  method  and  principle  to 
sickness,  or  to  forgetfulness  in  warding  off  other 
dangers  that  our  flesh  is  constantly  exposed  to, 
society  nowadays  would  be  in  a  pitiable  position. 

As  regards  this  specific  accident,  railroad  men 
are  well  aware  that  the  most  careful  employee  is  at 
all  times  liable  to  get  killed  in  this  way,  as  well  as 
the  farmer  on  the  crossing  in  the  country. 

In  my  opinion,  the  public  and  the  management 
of  the  railroads  could  immediately  cut  the  casualty 


EFFICIENCY   OF   SERVICE  81 

list,  from  this  and  similar  causes,  in  half,  by  getting 
after  every  specific  accident  and  by  treating  it  in 
a  common-sense  and  practical  manner. 

There  is  still  one  point  or  phase  of  the  efficiency 
problem  on  American  railroads  to  which  the  atten- 
tion of  the  public  is  frequently  directed.  In  a  word, 
we  all  look  with  astonishment  and  envy  at  the  acci- 
dent records  of  European  railroads.  From  various 
quarters  come  statistics  in  regard  to  the  road-bed, 
the  density  of  traffic,  the  general  conditions  under 
which  trains  are  moved, — from  which  information 
we  are  called  upon  to  bunch  together  and  frame  our 
excuses  for  inefficiency  as  best  we  can.  It  is  all  to  no 
purpose.  If  people  will  only  take  the  trouble  to 
study  the  actual  accidents  and  the  way  they  take 
place,  they  will  quickly  discover  that  very  few  acci- 
dents are  common  to  European  and  American  rail- 
roads. The  American  accident  is  a  characteristic 
of  personal  behavior,  which,  in  fact,  has  no  counter- 
part in  any  other  part  of  the  world. 

The  compass  and  trend  of  American  progress 
points  to  these  accidents  as  the  natural  outcome  of 
freedom  of  thought  and  action  running  riot.  This 
is  no  ill-considered  statement.  For  a  number  of 
years  there  has  been  a  scramble  in  almost  every 
line  of  industrial  behavior  to  kick  over  the  traces. 
In  many  directions  the  results  have  been  surpris- 
ingly beneficial,  but  on  the  railroad  the  principle 


82          LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

has  proved  to  be  surrounded  with  numerous  and 
well-defined  dangers.  Illustrations  of  this  fact  are 
to  be  met  with  on  every  side,  and  they  are  very 
significant. 

For  example,  "taking  chances"  is  distinctly  a 
characteristic  of  American  railroading.  You  will 
search  in  vain  on  European  railroads  for  accidents 
of  this  nature.  The  European  railroad  man  is  too 
stolid,  —  too  stupid,  if  we  prefer  the  term,  —  at  any 
rate  he  is  too  methodical,  to  get  caught  in  this  way. 
He  has  been  too  long  accustomed  to  the  rut  of 
unquestioning  obedience  in  matters  relating  to  the 
safety  of  travel ;  and  I  think  it  would  be  an  easy 
matter  to  demonstrate  that  the  difference  between 
the  records  on  American  and  European  railroads 
is  to  be  found  in  these  accidents  that  are  distress- 
ingly typical  of  American  temperament.  Making 
use  of  a  significant  illustration, — on  our  railroads 
to-day  the  kicker  is  king.  We  kick  against  discipline, 
we  kick  against  merit  and  ability  as  factors  in  pro- 
motion, we  kick  against  publicity  of  almost  any 
description ;  but  there  is  one  feature  of  our  occupa- 
tion and  duties  that  has  escaped  our  attention :  we 
don't  kick  against  the  accident  record. 

Summing  up,  then,  and  reviewing  the  evidence, 
what  is  the  conclusion  to  be  arrived  at  in  regard  to 
this  charge  of  industrial  disloyalty  on  the  railroads 


EFFICIENCY  OF   SERVICE  83 

which  Mr.  Hugo  makes  in  such  emphatic  language? 
"Unless  society  deteriorates,"  we  are  told,  "it  must 
give  free  play  to  liberty,  variety,  and  individuality." 
The  railroad  man  is  world-wide  in  his  sympathies, 
but  I  think  I  have  made  it  plain  that  his  behavior 
and  duties  on  the  railroad  are  arranged  and  regu- 
lated by  his  committee.  He  now  consults  his  sched- 
ule to  discover  how  much  liberty,  how  much  variety, 
how  much  individuality,  it  is  lawful  for  him  to  ex- 
ercise. The  man  is  organized,  grouped,  and  scheduled 
into  items,  and  when  the  mechanical  process  is 
complete,  liberty,  variety,  and  individuality  have 
disappeared.  The  future  of  the  race  depends  upon 
the  cultivation  of  these  social  forces,  and  efficiency 
of  work  and  service  are  very  important  branches  of 
social  development.  Finally,  then,  the  efficiency 
problem  is  the  employers'  problem.  Far  be  it  from 
me  to  criticise  the  American  railroad  employee  so 
far  as  his  honesty  of  purpose  is  concerned ;  but  we 
must  all  agree  that  a  certain  number  of  deplorable 
accidents  have  happened,  and  are  still  continuing 
to  happen.  A  minority  of  railroad  men  are  account- 
able in  some  way  for  these  fatalities.  Now,  the  only 
power  in  the  United  States  to-day  that  is  able 
peacefully,  radically,  and  permanently  to  reach  and 
influence  this  responsible  minority  is  the  railroad 
labor  organization.  The  centre  of  influence  upon 
the  personality  of  the  men  has  passed,  to  a  very 


84          LABOR  AND  THE   RAILROADS 

great  extent,  into  the  hands  of  the  union.  This  is 
the  power  behind  the  men  at  the  present  day,  that 
can  be  exerted  in  a  variety  of  ways  in  the  interests 
of  efficiency. 

Just  at  present  along  these  lines  there  is  very 
little  doing.  Nevertheless  on  all  sides,  among  rail- 
road men,  there  are  indications  of  awakening.  We 
are  all  right  and  wrong  in  spots.  But  this  safety 
problem,  and  the  wider  problems  of  efficiency  in 
industrial  life,  are  bigger  than  any  man  or  collection 
of  men  who  dislike  to  be  criticised.  I  am  a  firm  be- 
liever in  the  splendid  prospects  and  future  of  the 
railroad  man,  but  there  are  breakers  ahead  of  him, 
and  storms  to  weather. 

So  intimately  related  to  the  conduct  and  policy 
of  the  railroad  organization  is  this  matter  of  effi- 
ciency, that  I  think  I  am  justified  in  applying  the 
memorable  words  of  Abraham  Lincoln  to  the  acci- 
dent situation,  and  in  saying  that  it  is  now  for  rail- 
road men  themselves  to  determine  that  these  dead 
shall  not  have  died  in  vain,  and  that  we  by  our 
policy  and  conduct  in  the  future,  under  God,  shall 
take  on  a  new  birth  of  freedom. 


IV 
THE  RAILROADS  AND  PUBLICITY 

A  SHORT  time  ago,  in  a  speech  made  to  a  class 
in  Economics  at  Harvard  University,  Dr.  Charles 
W.  Eliot  made  the  following  statement :  — 

"A  great  remedy  —  possibly  the  remedy  —  for 
strikes  and  troubles  between  capital  and  labor,  is 
publicity.  Is  it  not  a  great  comfort,  after  all,  that 
publicity  is  the  great  remedy  for  public  wrong,  or 
private  wrong,  for  that  matter  ?  Why  is  it  ?  Be- 
cause the  majority  of  people  in  this  world,  despite 
all  ancient  theological  teachings,  want  to  do  what 
is  right." 

Here  we  have  a  solution  of  industrial  problems 
theoretically  enunciated.  The  application  of  this 
theory  to  the  situation  on  the  railroads,  and  to  the 
policy  and  work  of  managers  and  labor  organiza- 
tions, brings  to  the  surface  a  most  interesting  story. 

In  its  best  educational  meaning,  publicity  stands 
for  knowledge,  enlightenment,  efficiency,  the  best 
possible  type  of  manhood  and  womanhood,  and  for 
social  betterment  in  every  direction.  On  the  rail- 
roads, for  example,  it  is  an  easy  matter  to  demon- 
strate to  what  a  wonderful  degree  publicity  means 


86          LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

prevention  as  well  as  cure.  The  success  of  any 
campaign  to  secure  greater  efficiency  of  service  and 
to  improve  the  standards  and  ideals  of  the  workers 
is  now  to  be  fought  out  and  secured  by  means  of 
this  powerful  agency.  There  was  a  time  when  it 
did  not  make  so  much  difference  what  was  known 
or  what  was  concealed,  for  the  reason  that  the  public 
conscience  was  to  a  great  extent  indifferent ;  but 
to-day  society  is  keenly  alive  to  the  situation,  and 
recognizes  the  fact  that  publicity  is  the  most  power- 
ful and  wholesome  educator  in  the  laboratory  of 
social  science. 

While,  then,  generally  speaking,  the  publicity 
method  will  be  found  to  result  in  a  useful  know- 
ledge of  conditions,  of  methods,  and  of  men,  there 
is  also  concealed  in  it  an  art  of  a  very  practical  de- 
scription. In  everyday  life  and  work  this  may  be 
termed  the  art  of  social  persuasion  and  uplift.  In 
municipal,  as  well  as  in  industrial  affairs,  the  best 
possible  conditions  are  always  fostered  and  encour- 
aged by  absolute  publicity  ;  the  worst  imaginable  by 
political  and  industrial  secrecy.  To  convert  the  lat- 
ter into  the  former,  with  or  without  legislation,  is 
the  mission  of  social  persuasion.  This  social  better- 
ment instinct,  in  this  country  at  any  rate,  always 
has  the  majority  at  its  back.  It  is  always  reaching 
out  into  the  future  where  majority  interests  are 
centred.  From  barbarism  to  the  projected  effi- 


THE  RAILROADS  AND  PUBLICITY      87 

ciency  of  the  highest  civilization  is  almost  an  infinite 
span.  Publicity,  as  I  am  about  to  explain  it,  is  the 
highest  point  in  the  climbing  process  that  has  yet 
been  reached  by  human  effort  and  the  human  con- 
science.' For  centuries,  with  very  little  force  or 
method  behind  it,  publicity  has  been  knocking  at 
the  gate  of  human  progress,  but  not  until  lately  has 
its  widespread  significance  been  understood.  In  the 
industrial  world,  for  example,  we  are  now  beginning 
to  understand  that  publicity,  or  social  persuasion,  is 
actually  the  art  of  bringing  labor  and  capital,  men 
and  managers,  together  in  the  interest  of  the  people. 
Its  present  and  prospective  value  as  the  most  use- 
ful agency  in  betterment  work  can  be  emphasized 
by  a  glance  at  the  industrial  situation. 

Turn  where  we  will  at  the  present  day,  we  find 
the  distinguishing  feature  of  the  industrial  world 
to  be  specialization  for  material  ends  and  purposes. 
The  struggle  of  authority  to  hold  its  ground,  of 
capital  to  retain  its  supremacy  and  to  reap  its  har- 
vest, of  labor  to  assert  itself  and  to  secure  its  due 
proportion  of  profits,  has  brought  into  active  service 
an  army  of  specialists,  whose  life-work  seems  to 
consist  in  upsetting  the  plans  and  defeating  the 
specialties  of  their  competitors.  Under  the  direc- 
tion of  these  trained  specialists,  the  different  inter- 
ests have  formed  themselves  into  isolated  group- 
centres.  In  order  to  safeguard  their  possessions, 


88          LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

and  to  ward  off  interference,  these  group-centres 
have  surrounded  themselves  with  all  kinds  of  finan- 
cial, legal,  and  legislative  barricades. 

The  railroad  world  in  particular  is  completely  roped 
off  and  specialized  in  this  manner.  These  groups 
of  capitalists,  workers,  and  managers  can  neither 
be  broken  up  nor  scattered  by  legal  or  legislative 
action.  With  their  group-interests  and  group-ideals, 
these  people  are  narrowing  the  horizon  of  national 
life.  The  specialists  who  manage  their  affairs  and 
preside  over  their  councils  are  seldom  permitted  to 
extend  their  vision,  or  exercise  their  sympathies, 
an  inch  beyond  their  own  premises  and  interests. 
With  their  limited  vision,  these  groups  are  socially 
incomplete.  They  lack  the  salt  of  a  wide  social 
brotherhood.  The  social  conscience  must  now  take 
them  in  hand,  and  inoculate  them  with  the  leaven 
of  a  wider  philanthropy.  The  original  soulless  cor- 
poration has  already  been  purged  of  its  most  fla- 
grant abuses.  It  has  now  joined  the  brotherhood 
of  groups,  and  is  no  better  and  no  worse  than  the 
rest  of  them.  In  this  way  the  problem  has  widened, 
and  become  more  intense.  Its  economic  importance 
has  been  dwarfed  by  a  paramount  human  issue.  It 
is,  first  of  all,  a  question  of  American  manhood  and 
womanhood.  In  the  interest  of  social  betterment 
it  thus  becomes  the  business  of  publicity,  or  the 
art  of  social  persuasion,  to  see  what  can  be  done 


THE  RAILROADS   AND   PUBLICITY      89 

with  the  group  situation  in  American  industrial 
life. 


To  begin  with,  what  is  it  like,  and  how  does  it 
work  on  the  railroad  ?  In  making  the  best  of  a  rather 
uncomfortable  predicament,  the  manager  has  be- 
come attached  to  the  group  situation.  It  is  now  the 
only  peg  on  which  he  can  hang  the  hat  of  his  au- 
thority. In  fact,  the  principle  of  management  has 
now  been  reduced  to  these  forms  and  to  these  terms. 
As  the  manager  looks  at  it,  the  greater  the  number 
of  groups,  the  less  'chance  for  unanimity  among 
them,  for  the  groups  are  self-centred  and  selfish. 
On  a  given  railroad  they  have  no  common  base ;  the 
engineer,  to  a  sufficient  degree  for  the  manager's 
purpose,  looks  askance  at  the  fireman,  the  trainman 
at  th«  conductor ;  and  the  towerman,  as  a  rule,  can- 
not be  persuaded  to  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  telegraph 
operator.  Amid  these  varied  interests  and  little 
storm-centres  the  manager  plays  his  part,  and  the 
harmonious  relations  that  exist  are  the  result  of  his 
manipulation,  and  a  tribute  to  his  skill.  But  in  this 
industrial  shuffle  the  individual  is  passing  through 
a  humiliating  experience.  My  own  position  on  the 
railroad  will  serve  as  an  illustration. 

My  term  of  service  on  the  Boston  and  Maine 
Railroad  extends  over  a  period  of  twenty-eight  years. 


90          LABOR  AND   THE  RAILROADS 

So  far  as  I  am  aware,  there  are  no  marks  of  any 
kind  on  my  record.  Consequently  I  think  I  am  justi- 
fied in  contending  that,  in  my  own  interest,  and  that 
of  the  service,  if  there  are  any  avenues  of  promo- 
tion in  the  tower  service  they  should  be  kept  open 
so  that  I  and  others  may  have  them  in  mind  as  an 
ever-present  incentive  for  exertion  and  faithful  ser- 
vice. Nevertheless,  since  management  by  group  and 
schedule  has  been  inaugurated,  I  and  others  in 
similar  positions  have  been  like  so  much  Dead  Sea 
fruit.  By  reason  of  pressure  from  other  groups,  the 
field  of  promotion  is  confined  to  my  own  group. 
The  avenue  along  which  I  should  be  able  to  press 
upwards  and  forwards  in  the  tower  service  has  been 
blocked  by  rigid  agreements  between  the  manage- 
ment and  the  different  group-interests. 

I  work  on  the  Fitchburg  Division.  On  other  di- 
visions of  the  road  there  are  situations  that  for  a 
long  time  have  paid  a  dollar  a  day  more  than  that 
which  I  hold.  Of  course,  if  these  divisions  were 
separate  railroads,  nothing  more  could  be  said  ;  but 
they  are  all  under  the  same  management,  and  a 
towerman  can  qualify  for  a  new  job  on  another 
division  nearly  as  quickly  as  he  can  for  one  on  his 
own.  But  if  I  desire  one  of  these  higher  positions 
on  another  division,  it  is  open  to  me  only  in  one 
way  —  I  must  throw  up  my  record  of  service  and 
my  seniority  and  ability  privileges  on  my  own  divi- 


THE   RAILROADS   AND   PUBLICITY      91 

sion  and  begin  life  over  again  on  the  other,  at  the 
bottom  of  the  ladder ;  which,  of  course,  is  practi- 
cally out  of  the  question.  A  telegraph  operator  in  a 
tower  in  the  terminal  division,  with  a  few  months' 
service  to  his  credit,  has  the  call  on  the  tower  work 
on  that  division  ahead  of  a  man  who  has  been  work- 
ing for  the  same  corporation  for  over  a  quarter  of  a 
century.  Neither  seniority,  merit,  nor  ability  is  per- 
mitted to  interfere  with  the  interests  which  each 
group  formulates  for  itself,  and  which  are  at  present 
impervious  to  publicity.  It  is  hardly  to  be  supposed 
that  the  manager  is  alone  responsible  for  this  state 
of  affairs,  for  it  must  be  evident  that  his  ability  to 
place  his  men  to  the  best  advantage  is  circum- 
scribed, while  the  liberty  and  individuality  of  the 
worker  receive  no  recognition. 

But  publicity,  or  social  persuasion,  in  the  United 
States,  has  the  biggest  kind  of  a  mission.  Its  main 
business  is  to  explain  and  to  illuminate  the  indus- 
trial dilemma,  so  that  the  people  as  a  whole  can  be 
brought  to  understand  the  situation.  The  collective 
good  sense  of  the  community,  without  much  fuss, 
will  then  take  care  of  its  own  interests.  But,  unfor- 
tunately, publicity  is  no  part  of  the  programme  of 
organized  labor.  Many  of  its  principles  will  not 
stand  the  test  of  social  scrutiny.  In  the  interests  of 
the  labor  body  as  a  whole,  its  inefficient  members 
are  only  too  often  protected  and  retained  in  the 


92          LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

service.  Our  unions  discourage  criticism  and  dis- 
cussion, and  insist  upon  discipline  in  the  dark. 

Bishop  Keane,  in  an  address  at  Denver,  Colorado, 
some  time  ago,  made  the  following  statement: 
"  Labor  unions  should  not  therefore  destroy  com- 
petition, even  in  labor,  by  denying  efficiency  ex- 
traordinary compensation."  But  the  seniority  rule, 
as  in  actual  practice  on  the  railroads,  denies  to  effi- 
ciency this  extraordinary  compensation,  contrary  to 
the  manifest  interests  and  requirements  of  the  pub- 
lic service. 

A  short  time  ago  I  read  in  a  Boston  newspaper 
an  account  of  fifty  or  more  teamsters  who  had  been 
fined  for  disobeying  certain  traffic  rules,  which  had 
been  laid  down  by  the  city  authorities  for  the  safety 
and  convenience  of  travel.  Since  the  new  traffic  law 
went  into  effect,  January  first,  there  have  been 
1061  teamsters  in  court.  Of  this  number  944  paid 
fines  of  five  dollars  each.  Both  fines  and  the  names 
of  the  offenders  were  published  in  the  daily  papers. 
The  city  of  Boston,  it  would  seem,  does  not  believe 
in  the  Brown  system  of  discipline  in  relation  to 
street  traffic.  Presumably  the  city  would  long  ago 
have  adopted  secret  and  psychological  methods  of 
discipline  if  it  could  anticipate  better  results.  So 
the  question  arises  —  If  publicity  is  good  for  the 
teamster,  why  is  it  not  equally  so  for  the  railroad 
man  ?  On  the  railroad,  when  an  employee  disobeys 


THE   RAILROADS   AND  PUBLICITY      93 

a  traffic  regulation  he  is  treated  psychologically  in 
the  dark.  So  far  as  his  fellows  are  concerned,  there 
is  no  lesson  or  warning  attached  to  it,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  teamsters. 

In  passing,  the  psychological  problem  on  the  rail- 
road deserves  a  word  or  two  in  its  relation  to  pub- 
licity. Some  of  the  managers  have  taken  hold  of 
this  matter  in  practical  fashion.  They  give  as  one 
reason  the  fact  that  nowadays  juries  and  arbitra- 
tors must  be  addressed  and  worked  upon  psycho- 
logically, or  very  little  impression  can  be  made  on 
them. 

The  railroad  manager  meets  the  psychological 
problem  at  every  turn.  In  a  sort  of  despairing  effort 
to  compel  employees  to  read  attentively  and  cor- 
rectly in  sending  and  repeating  train  orders,  for 
example,  he  will  change  the  names  of  a  dozen  rail- 
road stations  to  meet  certain  psychological  possi- 
bilities. Another  bugbear  of  this  description  relates 
to  divided  responsibility.  Until  quite  recently,  this 
poor  old  world  has  been  run  on  the  supposition  that 
two  hurdles  in  your  path  are  more  likely  to  arrest 
your  career  than  one,  and  that  double  protection  is 
more  reliable  than  a  single  safeguard.  Under  stress 
of  psychological  promptings,  which  whisper  to  the 
easy-going  twentieth  century  that  what  is  every- 
body's business  is  nobody's  business,  the  props  are 
being  knocked  from  under  this  common-sense  logic. 


94  LABOR  AND   THE  RAILROADS 

The  situation  is  becoming  most  peculiar  in  its  prac- 
tical aspect,  more  especially  on  the  railroads,  where 
the  interests  and  safety  of  the  public  are  now  threat- 
ened from  so  many  directions. 

Not  long  ago  extensive  tests  were  instituted  on  a 
well-known  railroad.  The  manager  of  the  road  told 
me  a  curious  incident  in  connection  with  these  tests. 
The  record  was  almost  perfect.  The  only  out  about 
it  related  to  one  particular  signal.  Nearly  every  en- 
gineman  on  the  division  disregarded  this  signal,  for 
some  unknown  reason.  The  manager,  an  acute  judge 
of  human  nature,  as  it  lived,  moved,  and  received 
encouragement  on  his  railroad,  at  once  detected  a 
cause.  Personally  he  investigated  the  matter;  as  he 
approached  the  signal  in  question,  the  reason  for  its 
neglect  was  very  evident:  a  second  signal,  some 
distance  ahead  of  the  signal  which  had  purposely 
been  set  at  danger,  was  plainly  seen  to  be  in  the 
safety  position.  What,  then,  was  the  use  of  bother- 
ing about  signal  No.  i  when  the  track  was  certainly 
clear  up  to  and  beyond  signal  No.  2  ?  Here  we  have 
the  usual  psychological  excuse  for  disobedience. 

ii 

But,  regardless  of  their  own  indiscretions  here 
and  there,  I  think  the  managers  of  railroads  are 
beginning  to  perceive  that  they  are  likely  to  gain 
more  than  they  lose  by  encouraging  publicity 


THE  RAILROADS   AND   PUBLICITY      95 

methods.  One  Western  railroad  goes  so  far  as  to 
publish  instructions,  and  all  sorts  of  warnings  to 
employees,  in  the  daily  papers.  Take,  for  example, 
the  following  from  a  newspaper  published  in  Bloom- 
ington,  Illinois :  — 

"It  has  developed  of  late  that  some  train  bag- 
gagemen delivered  milk  and  cream  to  the  wrong 
persons,  causing  heavy  loss  to  the  company  in  set- 
tling damage  claims.  Hereafter  every  case  of  such 
carelessness,  where  claims  must  be  paid,  will  be 
charged  to  the  baggagemen  at  fault." 

"Towermen,  agents,  yardmen,  and  crossing-ten- 
ders, are  asked  to  do  what  they  can  to  avoid  delay 
of  passenger  trains.  The  performance  sheets  of 
late  show  considerable  delay  due  to  the  carelessness, 
laziness,  and  negligence  of  certain  employees  who 
are  not  alert  in  the  effort  to  prevent  delay.  All 
concerned  are  again  urged  to  do  better  in  the  way 
of  accelerating  the  movement  of  such  trains." 

"  Crews  are  asked  to  respect  the  orders  about  not 
running  too  fast  down-hill  and  around  curves,  Plain- 
view  being  a  notable  example.  Speed  there  should 
not  exceed  fifty  miles  an  hour." 

By  the  way,  fifty  miles  an  hour  round  curves  is  n't 
at  all  bad  as  a  reduction  in  speed. 

To  secure  the  attention  of  the  employee,  and  to 
enlist  his  interest  in  the  cause  of  efficient  service, 
the  modern  manager  is  now  willing  to  go  to  any 


96  LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

extreme.  He  is  even  prepared  to  surrender  his  pre- 
rogative and  to  share  his  duties  with  the  employee. 

On  a  Western  railroad  it  has  been  decided  to 
appoint  engineers  and  conductors  to  examine  and 
instruct  employees  in  regard  to  rules  and  duties. 
These  men  are  to  be  placed  on  regular  pay,  and 
called  in  to  cooperate  with  the  officials.  The  idea 
of  appointing  employees  for  this  purpose  is  a  novel 
one,  and  its  success  will  be  watched  with  consider- 
able interest. 

But  there  are  all  sorts  of  strings  to  the  publicity 
kite,  which  fact  is  a  reminder  of  another  phase  of 
the  topic  that  also  seems  to  call  for  a  little  atten- 
tion. I  allude  to  the  personnel  and  the  work  of  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission  in  relation  to 
organized  labor  and  the  public  interests. 

The  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  employs 
something  like  twenty-one  inspectors.  All  but  three 
of  these  men  are  members  of  the  four  big  railroad 
orders,  in  good  standing;  and,  indeed,  service  for 
the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  is  used  as  a 
stepping-stone  of  promotion  in  these  orders.  In 
connection  with  the  promotions  recently  made,  due 
to  the  resignation  of  Chief  Hanrahan  of  the  Fire- 
men, and  of  Chief  Morrisey  of  the  Trainmen,  three 
different  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  In- 
spectors have  been  promoted  to  positions  as  offi- 
cers of  the  orders. 


THE   RAILROADS  AND   PUBLICITY      97 

Another  point,  which  is  certainly  of  interest  to 
the  public,  is  that  representation  on  this  govern- 
ment board  of  inspectors  is  in  proportion  to  the 
membership  of  each  of  the  large  orders.  Now,  not 
for  a  minute  do  I  presume  to  say  that  these  men 
are  not  good  men,  that  they  are  not  competent, 
and  that  they  cannot  serve  their  country  well.  What 
I  do  say  is  that  under  their  oaths  to  their  organi- 
zations they  owe  allegiance  to  them  ;  and  that  this 
is  not  in  line  with  the  best  ideals  of  public  service. 

The  comfortable,  matter-of-fact  way  in  which  the 
organization  of  Railroad  Trainmen  looks  upon  the 
merging  of  labor  interests  and  those  of  the  people 
under  one  head,  is  particularly  noticeable.  The  fol- 
lowing information  on  the  subject  is  from  "The 
Railroad  Trainman  " :  — 

"On  January  i,  1909,  the  lately  appointed  Vice 
Grand-Master,  Brotherhood  of  Railroad  Trainmen, 
will  assume  his  duties.  He  has  been  careful  and 
painstaking  in  all  his  work,  and  in  everything  per- 
taining to  his  business  connection  with  the  organi- 
zation has  proven  himself  to  be  a  thorough-going 
capable  officer,  whose  record  as  such  is  the  reason 
for  his  appointment. 

"  He  has  been  employed  by  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission  for  a  number  of  years  as 
inspector  of  safety  appliances,  and  while  in  this 
employ  has  been  the  means,  in  a  large  number  of 


98          LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

instances,  of  bringing  suit  against  railway  compa- 
nies for  violation  of  the  law ;  and  very  many  deci- 
sions in  favor  of  the  act  are  to  be  credited  to  his 
efforts  in  seeking  its  enforcement." 

This  is  a  very  satisfactory  arrangement  for  the 
labor  organization.  The  public  service,  however, 
should  be  free  from  such  entangling  alliances.  How 
would  it  look  if  the  railroad  officials  of  the  coun- 
try, through  the  American  Railway  Association, 
for  example,  should  get  together  and  select  from 
their  number  a  man  whom  they  should  nominate 
to  act  as  Secretary  of  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission ;  and  if,  having  obtained  that  position, 
he  should  then  proceed  to  nominate  men  for  inspec- 
tors ?  How  would  the  country  at  large  look  upon  such 
a  situation  ?  It  is  simply  unthinkable.  In  the  case 
as  I  have  stated  it  there  seems  to  be  plenty  of  room 
for  a  little  "  social  persuasion  "  of  a  very  healthy 
description. 

in 

But  the  deeper  we  study  publicity  and  its  history, 
the  more  interesting  are  the  developments.  For  a 
start,  then,  publicity  must  breathe  and  work  in  an 
honest,  unprejudiced  atmosphere.  In  other  words, 
public  opinion  and  public  ideals  must  approach  the 
industrial  future  with  a  clean  record.  Its  methods 
cannot  be  confined  to  a  process  of  showing  up  the 


THE  RAILROADS   AND   PUBLICITY      99 

intrigues  of  railroad  managers.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
at  the  present  day  the  railroads  are  more  sinned 
against  than  sinning. 

Up  to  the  present  time  the  American  people  have 
desired  publicity  in  regard  to  corporations,  but  they 
have  fought  shy  of  it  any  nearer  home.  Conse- 
quently, publicity  as  a  clarifier  and  rectifier  of  in- 
dustrial conditions  is  sadly  handicapped.  The  good 
sense  of  the  people  is  beginning  to  appreciate  the 
situation,  and  is  now  calling  for  a  wider  application 
of  the  publicity  methods.  In  no  line  of  work  can 
these  facts  be  so  fruitfully  studied  as  in  the  railroad 
business,  particularly  in  relation  to  efficiency  of 
service  and  the  safety  of  travel. 

Just  at  present  an  interesting  comparison  can  be 
drawn  bet  ween  the  American  and  the  Canadian  ideas 
and  methods  of  publicity.  In  this  country,  when  con- 
ditions in  the  railroad  business  attract  attention  and 
adverse  criticism,  a  commission  looks  into  the  trou- 
ble and  publishes  a  report  containing  a  few  interest- 
ing generalities.  If  politics  or  labor  questions  are 
involved,  the  commissioners  know  better  than  to 
express  themselves  on  these  topics.  In  regard  to 
accident  reports  and  methods  of  investigation,  the 
American  newspapers,  for  example,  invariably  neg- 
lect to  describe  the  nature  of  the  trouble,  the  mis- 
takes that  are  made,  and  the  lessons  to  be  derived 
from  them  for  public  information  and  criticism. 


ioo         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

They  give  much  more  attention  to  publicity  in 
Canada.  The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  Cana- 
dian newspaper  of  recent  date :  — 

"At  nine  o'clock  this  morning  his  Lordship, 
Justice  Riddell,  imposed  sentence  upon  the  three 
trainmen  found  guilty,  at  the  recent  spring  assizes, 
of  criminal  negligence  in  connection  with  the  wreck 
on  the  G.  T.  R.  some  time  ago  near  Harriston." 

In  the  course  of  his  judgment,  Justice  Riddell 
said:  "  It  is  a  terrible  thought  that  if  any  one  of  you 
men  had  done  his  plain  duty,  no  accident  would 
have  happened.  Five  men  were  found  who  all  neg- 
lected their  plain  duty  at  the  same  time,  and  as  a 
consequence  two  men  were  hurled  into  eternity 
and  a  third  was  maimed  for  life.  Had  any  one  said 
in  advance  that  this  concurrent  negligence  of  five 
men  might  happen,  it  would  have  been  thought 
incredible.  But  such  is  the  fact." 

The  sentences  imposed  by  the  judge  were  par- 
ticularly impressive,  and,  so  far  as  I  have  been 
able  to  discover,  nothing  so  solemn  and  significant 
has  ever  been  administered  in  American  railroad 
life. 

"You,  Engineer  ,  must  suffer  immediate 

imprisonment.  In  view  of  your  past  good  character 
and  of  the  representations  to  mercy  of  the  jury, 
and  of  the  strong  recommendations  of  others  in 
your  favor,  and  also  your  apparent  penitence,  I 


THE  RAILROADS   AND   PUBLICITY    101 

think  I  may  reduce  the  term  of  your  imprisonment 
to  eight  months.  You  will  therefore  be  imprisoned 
in  the  common  jail  at  Guelph,  without  hard  labor, 
for  that  term. 

"  You,  Conductor ,  and  you,  Fireman , 

I  shall  not  sentence  at  the  present  time.  You  did 
wrong,  and  will  have  for  life  the  consciousness  that 
you  have  killed  two  innocent  men,  and  that  two, 
dead  by  your  act,  are  awaiting  you  on  the  other 
shore.  But  I  think  that  while  you  are  justly  con- 
victed, I  may,  for  the  time  being,  at  least,  refrain 
from  sending  you  to  the  convict's  cell.  You  will 
have  the  opportunity  to  go  back  to  the  world  and 
regain  the  places  you  have  lost." 

In  referring  to  a  petition  for  clemency,  the  judge 
remarked  that  he  couldn't  believe  that  a  Cana- 
dian Jiad  drafted  it.  It  is  evident  that  in  Canada 
verdicts  and  opinions  are  published  with  startling 
impartiality. 

As  President  Eliot  informs  us,  the  Canadian  law 
and  methods  have  been  in  sight  of  American  em- 
ployers and  employees  for  nearly  two  years,  and  no 
employer  or  employee  in  the  United  States  likes 
the  looks  of  them.  Let  us  see  how  the  Canadian 
law  and  methods  are  put  in  force  in  regard  to  rail- 
road accidents. 

Under  the  Canadian  Industrial  Disputes  Investi- 
gation Act,  1907,  the  following  is  an  account  of  the 


102         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

settlement  of  a  dispute  between  the  Canadian 
Pacific  Railway  Company  and  the  Brotherhood  of 
Locomotive  Firemen  and  Engineers.  The  number 
of  employees  affected,  or  likely  to  be  affected,  was 
estimated  at  two  thousand  directly  and  five  thou- 
sand indirectly.  The  differences  in  question  were 
set  forth  as  follows  :  — 

"(i)  The  dismissal  of  Engineer  William  Mc- 
Gonegal,  of  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  for  alleged  violation 
of  rule  89  (a)  of  the  Company's  Rule  Book  on 
November  12,  1907.  '  Claims  wrongful  dismissal: 
requests  reinstatement  and  pay  for  time  lost.' 

"  (2)  The  dismissal  of  Thomas  W.  McAuley,  of 
North  Bay,  for  alleged  recklessness  in  or  about  the 
month  of  November,  1907.  '  Claims  wrongful  dis- 
missal :  requests  reinstatement  and  pay  for  time 
lost.' " 

The  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  Company,  in  its 
statement  in  reply  to  the  application,  expressed  its 
unwillingness  to  reinstate  either  of  the  two  dis- 
missed employees,  holding  that  both  had  been  dis- 
missed with  good  cause,  and  insisting  that  the  pro- 
visions of  the  act  could  not  properly  be  invoked  in 
respect  to  cases  such  as  those  indicated.  In  other 
words,  the  company  insisted  upon  its  inherent  right 
and  duty,  in  the  interest  of  public  safety,  to  admin- 
ister discipline  without  interference  of  any  kind. 

However,  the  Minister,  having  duly  considered 


THE  RAILROADS   AND   PUBLICITY     103 

the  circumstances,  established  a  Board,  and  ap- 
pointed thereto  Mr.  Wallace  Nesbitt  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  company,  and  Mr.  J.  G.  O'Don- 
oghue  on  the  recommendation  of  the  employees. 
These  gentlemen  being  unable  to  agree  upon  the 
third  member  of  the  board,  the  Minister  appointed 
Mr.  Justice  Fortin,  of  Montreal. 

In  the  case  of  McGonegal,  the  collision,  which 
resulted  in  injuries  to  persons  and  damages  to 
property,  was,  according  to  the  evidence,  the  direct 
result  of  said  McGonegal's  attempting  to  take  the 
switch  at  Blind  River  at  the  east  end  instead  of  at 
the  west  end,  in  disregard  and  violation,  by  Mc- 
Gonegal, of  the  company's  rules  and  regulations. 

In  the  second  case,  the  position  of  the  company 
in  regard  to  McAuley  was  as  follows  :  — 

"The  said  McAuley  was  dismissed  from  the 
company's  service  for  recklessness  in  the  operation 
of  his  train  under  the  following  circumstances  :  The 
said  McAuley  was  in  charge  of  Engine  1626  on 
November  21, 1907,  and  becoming  stalled  at  or  near 
mileage  82,  had  to  take  the  front  of  his  train  to 
Azilda.  On  returning  to  pick  up  his  train  he 
approached  it  too  fast,  resulting  in  collision  and 
damage  to  the  company's  property." 

The  finding  of  the  board  in  these  cases  was  as 
follows :  — 

"In  the  matter  of  William  McGonegal.    The 


104        LABOR  AND   THE  RAILROADS 

majority  of  the  Board  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  contention  of  Engineer  McGonegal,  as  to  the 
construction  of  rule  89  (a),  was  incorrect,  and  that 
he  should  have  backed  his  train  and  pulled  into  the 
siding.  The  contention  of  the  company  was  there- 
fore sustained. 

"  In  the  matter  of  Thomas  W.  McAuley.  The 
Board,  having  heard  the  parties,  was  of  opinion  that 
the  officers  of  the  company  were  justified,  on  Mc- 
Auley's  signed  statement  the  day  following  the 
accident,  in  dismissing  him.  Furthermore,  in  both 
of  these  matters,  the  Board  was  unanimously  of 
opinion  that  it  should  be  clearly  recognized  by  the 
employers  and  the  employed,  in  the  interest  of  the 
public,  that  the  employer  must  have  the  inherent 
right  of  regulating,  subject  to  the  contract  between 
the  parties  and  the  law  of  the  land,  the  discipline 
and  organization  of  the  company" 

This  report,  which  is  published  in  the  "  Labor 
Gazette,"  bears  the  date  January  15,  1909. 

The  significance  and  value  of  this  report  lie  in 
its  direct  appeal  to  the  intelligence  and  moral  sup- 
port of  the  people.  This  appeal  direct  to  the  people 
by  means  of  publicity  is  the  point  at  which  I  have 
aimed  in  this  and  an  earlier  series  of  papers.  It 
may  be  looked  upon  as  the  "farthest  north"  of  all 
the  attempts  that  have  yet  been  made  to  work  out 
some  kind  of  practical  solution  of  the  industrial 


THE  RAILROADS  AND   PUBLICITY     105 

dilemma.  The  manner  in  which  it  can  be  applied 
to  the  accident  and  efficiency  problems  on  Ameri- 
can railroads  is  the  most  important  and  the  prac- 
tical feature  to  be  considered. 

IV 

Let  us  now  apply  our  publicity  methods  to  the 
railroad  crossings,  and  to  the  fatalities  that  are 
daily  taking  place  at  these  points.  Doubtless  many 
of  us  think  we  understand  all  about  these  crossings 
—  just  how  they  are  managed,  and  what  the  equip- 
ment of  the  crossing  tender  should  be  in  order  to 
run  a  crossing  with  satisfaction  to  the  railroad  and 
the  public.  And  yet  I  have  little  hesitation  in  stat- 
ing that  there  are  not  a  dozen  men  in  the  country 
who  have  actually  studied  the  matter  and  are  capa- 
ble of  giving  the  story  in  truthful  detail.  In  relation 
to  loss  of  life  and  personal  injury,  the  crossing  prob- 
lem is  one  of  the  most  important  with  which  the 
public  to-day  is  concerned.  In  order  to  make  its 
importance  clear  to  all,  I  call  attention  to  a  report 
which  was  prepared  on  a  well-known  railroad  for 
the  information  of  its  president :  — 

"  Double  the  outgo  for  injuries  to  passengers  was 
that  for  380  killed  and  injured  who  were  neither 
passengers,  employees,  nor  trespassers.  Of  the 
number  33  were  killed;  195  persons  were  struck 
on  public  streets  or  crossings ;  16  of  these  cases, 


io6         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

settled  through  suits,  averaged  $1365.67  each,  and 
82  other  cases,  settled  by  claim  agent,  averaged 
$137.27  each.  Through  crossings  acknowledged  to 
be  defective  there  were  25  additional  cases  of  injury, 
the  four  court  cases  averaging  $1205.76  each  and 
the  others  $66.  Eight  cases  under  the  general  head 
miscellaneous,  settled  by  suit,  averaged  $1976  each, 
32  others  cost  $97.14  each.  Colliding  with  trolley 
car  at  crossing  caused  injuries  to  18  persons,  settle- 
ment in  two  cases  averaging  $803.18,  seven  others 
averaging  $154.88  each.  Nineteen  out  of  twenty- 
eight  cases  of  injury  occasioned  by  moving  engines 
or  cars  without  warning  to  men  and  teams  working 
about  them  were  settled  at  an  average  of  $376.25 
for  four  court  cases,  and  $48  for  the  other  fifteen. 
Negligence  in  crossing-men  handling  gates  led  to 
25  instances  of  injury  to  persons ;  five  of  them,  set- 
tled through  suits,  averaged  $615  each,  and  eleven 
others,  through  claim  agent,  $5.  The  enumerated 
and  other  analogous  causes  brought  the  outgo  for 
the  year  to  approximately  $75,000,  and  almost  as 
many  claims  left  pending  as  were  closed  during  the 
twelve  months." 

In  this  report  there  are  probably  as  many  as  twenty 
different  kinds  of  dangers  and  difficulties  that  cross- 
ing-men have  to  encounter,  and  in  regard  to  which 
one  would  naturally  suppose  a  green  crossing-man 
would  receive  some  kind  of  instructions. 


THE  RAILROADS  AND   PUBLICITY     107 

The  importance  of  the  crossing  being  conceded, 
let  us  now  turn  to  the  efficiency  of  the  service  con- 
nected with  it.  To  begin  with,  the  rules  and  regula- 
tions issued  by  the  managements  of  railroads  for  the 
guidance  of  employees  cannot  be  said  to  contain 
any  specific  instructions  as  to  what  to  do,  or  how  to 
behave,  in  relation  to  the  dangers  to  which  I  have 
called  attention.  There  are  certain  dangers  peculiar 
to  each  individual  crossing,  which  have  to  be  care- 
fully guarded  against,  and  from  which  accidents  are 
almost  daily  taking  place.  But  we  find  that  when  a 
new  man  is  hired  and  put  to  work  on  a  crossing,  he 
is,  for  the  most  part,  left  to  learn  about  the  dangers 
from  object  lessons  and  narrow  escapes.  I  have 
asked  a  score  of  crossing-men  if  they  had  received 
any  instructions  from  any  quarter,  and  they  all  an- 
swered in  the  negative.  One  and  all  will  tell  you  that 
they  were  called  upon  to  sign  the  usual  application- 
for-employment  blank,  and  were  then  examined  for 
eyesight  and  hearing,  but  that  they  heard  not  a  word 
about  their  duties,  either  specifically  or  generally. 
Some  time  ago  I  inquired  of  an  old  and  faithful 
crossing-man,  if  in  all  his  thirty-five  years  of  service 
he  had  ever  known  or  heard  of  any  systematic 
supervision  or  instruction  for  crossing-men,  and  his 
reply  was,  "You  must  be  dreaming." 

In  plain  English,  then,  the  distressing  accidents, 
of  which  we  receive  reports  almost  daily,  are  only 


io8         LABOR  AND   THE  RAILROADS 

too  frequently  the  price  paid  for  the  inexperience 
of  new  men  learning  their  jobs. 

I  believe  that  I  am  describing  a  situation  that  is 
more  or  less  similar  on  all  American  railroads.  The 
public  interests  in  this  business  receive  about  as 
much  recognition  as  the  crossing-man  himself.  Judg- 
ing from  our  accident  reports,  his  position  is  at  least 
twice  as  important  as  that  of  a  passenger  brakeman. 
All  told,  everything  connected  with  the  crossing 
is  an  object  lesson  in  efficiency  or  inefficiency  well 
worth  public  consideration. 


The  lesson  derived  from  this  story  of  the  railroad 
crossing  can  be  applied  to  nearly  every  branch  of  the 
operating  departments  on  American  railroads.  Over 
all  there  is  a  lamentable  lack  of  supervision,  and  no 
method  by  means  of  which  the  public  can  be  kept 
informed  of  what  is  going  on.  Into  the  scheme  of 
management  everywhere  a  system  of  publicity  must 
be  introduced.  But  the  success  of  publicity  methods 
of  betterment  is  absolutely  dependent,  tinder  present 
conditions,  upon  the  elimination  of  the  brotherhood 
man  as  a  factor  in  the  supervision  of  his  fellow  em- 
ployees. The  organizations  have  repeatedly  put  them- 
selves on  record  against  the  simplest  and  sanest 
methods  of  improving  the  service  along  these  lines. 

Very  recently  one  of  the  largest  railroad  systems 


THE   RAILROADS   AND   PUBLICITY     109 

in  the  country  organized  an  association  of  employ- 
ees for  the  purpose  of  studying  the  safety  problem, 
and  the  improvement  of  the  service  in  relation 
thereto.  So  far,  the  men  in  the  different  branches 
of  the  service  have  been  brought  together  to  discuss 
the  prevention  of  accidents  arising  out  of  the 
application  of  the  rules.  But  the  formation  of  this 
society  has  already  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
unions  among  the  men,  and  some  of  them  have  gone 
to  the  extent  of  proposing  that  any  man  who  joins 
the  safety  association  shall  forfeit  his  membership 
in  the  union. 

It  is  well  thoroughly  to  understand  this  phase  of 
the  situation,  for  the  reason  that  if  inquiries  were 
made,  the  railroad  manager  would  probably  assert 
that  the  supervision  of  his  system  is  of  a  substantial 
and  adequate  character.  He  might  call  your  atten- 
tion to  the  work  and  services  of  his  railroad  detec- 
tives, and  of  his  traveling  engineers  and  conductors. 
But  when  you  look  into  the  matter  and  ask  for 
illustrations  and  proof  to  show  that  these  men 
actually  report  their  fellows  for  carelessness  and 
disregard  of  rules,  the  evidence  will  not  be  forth- 
coming. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  duties  of  the  traveling 
engineman  are  mechanical,  or  relate  to  the  care  of 
the  equipment,  while  the  conductor  is  kept  busy 
with  problems  relating  to  the  freight  business  and 


no         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

the  overtime  of  the  men.  These  supervisors  and 
traveling  overseers  in  the  operating  department  are 
brotherhood  men.  No  sane  railroad  manager  expects 
to  secure  adequate  and  reliable  statistics  from  this 
source.  In  fact,  the  men  should  not  be  called  upon 
to  do  this  work,  and  yet  the  information  must  be 
secured  in  some  way.  The  interest  in  his  business, 
on  the  part  of  one  of  these  men,  can  be  placed  along- 
side the  interest  of  the  inspectors  employed  by  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission.  In  the  latter  case 
the  inspector  will  do  anything  to  hunt  up  his  evi- 
dence and  secure  a  conviction,  in  the  former  he  will 
do  anything  to  avoid  the  necessity  for  so  doing. 

VI 

The  conclusion  we  are  compelled  to  arrive  at  is 
obvious.  The  public,  that  is  to  say,  society  itself, 
must  take  a  hand  in  the  actual  management  or  su- 
pervision of  the  railroad.  In  plain  English,  the  rail- 
roads should  be  called  iipon  to  appoint  supervisors 
who  are  not  union  men.  They  should  be  paid  by 
the  railroad  manager,  and  work  exclusively  under 
his  direction.  But  these  men  should  also  be  in  the 
service  of  the  public.  Their  reports,  monthly  or 
otherwise,  should  be  sent,  word  for  word,  both  to  the 
manager  and  to  the  railroad  commissioners.  Between 
the  watchfulness  and  anxiety  of  the  management 
and  the  duty  and  responsibility  of  the  commission- 


THE  RAILROADS   AND   PUBLICITY     in 

ers  in  relation  to  these  reports,  the  public  interests 
would  be  amply  taken  care  of.  Methods  of  watchful- 
ness and  security,  with  prevention  as  the  principal 
object  in  view,  would  immediately  result  from  this 
publicity  plan.  The  traveling  crossing-man,  engine- 
man,  conductor,  and  trainman,  would  constitute  the 
safety  department  on  the  railroad  at  very  little 
added  expense.  Under  the  public  eye,  the  publicity 
system  of  betterment  work  would  be  placed  on 
a  practical  and  businesslike  basis,  and  the  respons- 
ibilities of  these  public  inspectors  would  be  clearly 
defined,  and  it  would  become  practically  impossible 
for  the  employee,  management,  or  railroad  com- 
missioners to  neglect  their  duties. 

It  is  impossible  in  an  article  of  this  description 
to  go  into  the  details  of  this  publicity  plan  in  its 
practical  application  to  the  efficiency  and  safety 
problems  on  our  railroads.  It  must  suffice,  at  pre- 
sent, to  describe  the  conditions,  and  the  necessity  for 
betterment  which  can  actually  be  secured  by  the 
publicity  route.  In  the  situation  as  we  find  it  to-day, 
the  most  inexcusable  injustice  is  being  inflicted  on 
the  rising  generation  of  workers  by  means  of  some 
of  the  principles  of  our  labor  organizations,  which, 
as  it  seems  to  me,  the  American  people  can  by  no 
means  continue  to  countenance.  This  conclusion 
applies  not  only  to  the  railroad  business,  but  to  the 
industrial  life  of  the  nation. 


ii2         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

A  young  man  enters  the  service  of  a  wholesale 
manufacturing  concern.  The  superintendent  informs 
him  that  if  he  takes  an  interest  in  the  business  the 
business  will  take  an  interest  in  him.  After  the  boy 
has  become  acquainted  with  the  routine  of  his  office- 
work  he  begins  to  look  round  him  a  little.  During 
the  busy  hours  he  steps  into  the  shipping-room  or 
the  salesroom  and  gives  a  little  assistance  here 
and  there.  He  is  permitted  to  do  this  for  a  day  or 
two,  but  before  long  a  man  steps  up  to  him  and 
says,  "  What  are  you  doing  here  ?  If  the  boss  wants 
to  hire  any  more  help,  let  him  do  so.  Don't  you 
understand  that  you  are  probably  taking  the  bread 
and  butter  away  from  some  hard-up  fellow,  who  is 
out  of  employment  and  who  would  be  likely  to  get 
a  job  if  you  would  stay  where  you  belong?  Go  back 
to  the  office  and  attend  to  your  own  business,  or 
the  union  will  get  after  you."  The  boy  suddenly 
awakes  to  the  situation.  He  has  to  choose  between 
the  slurs  of  his  fellows  and  what  he  considers  to  be 
his  duty  to  his  employers.  He  is  a  good-natured 
young  fellow,  and  his  companions  soon  carry  him 
off  his  feet.  Later,  when  the  boss  asks  him  why 
he  does  not  take  more  interest  in  the  business,  he 
tells  his  story,  and  only  too  often  the  superinten- 
dent is  compelled  to  leave  him  to  his  fate,  for  the 
business  is  found  to  be  permeated  with  this  spirit 
from  cellar  to  garret. 


THE  RAILROADS   AND   PUBLICITY     113 

Some  day,  perhaps,  a  shipment  worth  $1000  to 
the  firm  is  being  loaded  on  teams  when  the  clock 
strikes  twelve.  Immediately  every  man  on  the  job 
quits  work.  From  twelve  to  one  is  the  dinner  hour ; 
it  is  so  stipulated  in  the  schedule.  The  foreman  ex- 
plains to  the  men  that  the  shipment  will  miss  its 
train-connection  and  the  sale  be  canceled  if  there 
is  a  minute's  delay.  But  it  is  useless  to  discuss  the 
matter.  There  is  no  flexibility  to  a  schedule.  The 
men  explain  that  if  they  work  during  the  noon  hour 
they  will  lose  their  union  cards.  That  ends  the  dis- 
cussion. The  goods  are  replaced  in  the  store. 

It  requires  no  prophet  to  predict  some  kind  of  a 
halt  to  this  sort  of  industrial  progress.  The  people 
will  be  neither  slow  nor  careful  in  answering  those 
who  persistently  dwarf  the  energies  and  misdirect 
the  social  principles  of  the  young  workers  on  whom 
the  nation  depends  for  its  industrial  future.  In  rail- 
road life  the  situation  is  even  more  unaccountable 
and  indefensible  than  in  other  industries.  There 
are  absolutely  no  social  ethics  or  principles  what- 
ever in  the  present  method  of  management  by 
group-interests  and  by  the  law  of  the  schedule. 

For  efficiency  of  service  and  safety  of  travel  the 
public  continues  to  appeal  to  the  managing  de- 
partment, and  yet,  by  this  time,  we  must  all  be 
well  aware  of  the  fact  that  this  manager,  from 
whom  so  much  is  expected,  has  been  legislated  and 


ii4         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

unionized  out  of  existence.  The  old-time  manager 
was  an  autocratic,  irresponsible  individual.  But  he 
has  been  called  to  account.  The  history  of  the  lim- 
itations that  have  been  imposed  upon  him  during 
the  past  ten  years  is  descriptive  of  a  continuous 
slide  down  hill.  To-day  there  is  no  one  small 
enough  to  do  him  reverence.  He  now  remains 
silent  and  contemplative.  He  has  no  explanation  to 
offer  ;  he  has  made  all  the  signs  he  is  going  to.  If 
the  public  is  dissatisfied,  let  the  authorities  tackle 
the  problem.  Meanwhile  liberty,  variety,  and  indi- 
viduality in  the  railroad  business  are  adrift. 


THE  CASE  OF  THE  PENNSYLVANIA 

MR.  DANIEL  WILLARD,  Second  Vice-President  of 
the  Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy  Railroad  Com- 
pany, is  one  of  the  foremost  railroad  managers  in 
America.  He  has  direct  charge  of  a  railroad  over 
9000  miles  in  length  which  goes  through  eleven  dif- 
ferent states.  In  busy  times  the  names  of  50,000  men 
appear  on  its  payrolls.  It  has  large  terminals  in 
Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Kansas  City,  and  other  large 
cities.  It  owns  1600  locomotives,  1200  passenger 
cars,  and  52,000  freight  cars. 

Mr.  Willard  is  a  warm  advocate  of  the  railroad 
man's  schedule.  This  schedule  is  a  signed  agreement 
between  the  management  of  a  railroad  and  the  em- 
ployees. Its  stipulations  refer  to  and  define  rates  of 
pay,  methods  of  adjusting  difficulties  or  disputes,  and 
other  matters  relating  to  privileges  and  duties  in  the 
everyday  life  of  the  employee.  Considered  in  this 
way,  its  face  value  is  all  in  its  favor.  Manifestly  all 
that  is  necessary  is  to  make  the  stipulations  con- 
tained in  this  agreement  reasonably  fair  to  employee, 
manager,  and  the  public.  From  such  an  agreement 
the  best  possible  results  should  be  anticipated. 


n6         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

My  reference  to  the  manager  of  the  Chicago, 
Burlington  and  Quincy  Railroad  has  no  significance 
apart  from  the  fact  that  Mr.  Willard  probably  voices 
the  opinion  of  a  great  majority  of  railroad  managers. 
This  consensus  of  opinion  is  that  this  schedule  re- 
presents the  best  working  arrangement  under  the 
circumstances.  Indeed,  giving  illustration  from  his 
own  experience,  Mr.  Willard  asserted  in  an  interview 
with  the  writer  of  this  paper,  that  to  attempt  to  run 
a  railroad  nowadays  without  a  schedule  would  be 
something  in  the  nature  of  an  invitation  to  chaos. 

But  the  shield  has  two  sides.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  firmly  declines  to  have 
anything  to  do  with  a  schedule.  Its  superintendents 
propose  to  superintend  and  its  managers  to  manage 
as  heretofore  they  have  always  superintended  and 
managed,  without  attaching  their  signatures  to  trade 
agreements  or  schedules  of  any  description. 

The  Pennsylvania  Railroad  is  also  an  immense 
establishment.  It  controls  23,977  miles  of  track.  The 
states  through  which  the  Pennsylvania  lines  run 
contain  44,936,522  people,  that  is  to  say,  the  road 
touches  directly  the  social  and  industrial  life  of  half 
the  population  of  the  United  States.  The  Pennsyl- 
vania was  the  first  road  to  use  Bessemer  steel  rails. 
It  was  also  the  first  to  use  the  air  brake  and  the 
block-signal  system.  It  has  over  1 34,000  employees 
on  the  lines  east  of  Pittsburg.  Its  monthly  payroll 


THE  CASE  OF  THE  PENNSYLVANIA     117 

on  the  eastern  lines  is  over  seven  million  dollars.  It 
has  an  unrivaled  pension  system.  There  are  316 
veterans  who  have  served  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
fifty  years  and  over ;  the  United  States  Government 
has  but  41.  More  than  2000  employees  of  the  road 
were  receiving  pensions  on  January  I,  1909,  and  the 
payments  authorized  to  be  made  to  them  during  the 
year  1908,  amounted  to  $544,245.08. 

The  Pennsylvania  owns  6000  locomotives,  248,000 
freight  cars,  5400  passenger  cars,  and  the  company's 
trains  stop  at  6000  stations.  In  regard  to  efficiency 
and  safety  of  operation,  reports  just  compiled  of  all 
accidents  on  the  23,000  miles  of  track  show  that 
during  1908,  the  various  lines  carried  141,659,543 
passengers,  and  that  not  a  single  passenger  was 
killed  as  a  result  of  an  accident  to  a  train. 

However,  a  few  figures  on  the  subject  seem  to  be 
called  for.  The  total  number  of  passengers  injured 
in  train  accidents  numbered  only  102.  These  figures 
include  every  case  requiring  surgical  or  medical  at- 
tention, however  trivial.  It  will  thus  appear  that, 
counting  every  personal  injury  due  to  train  wrecks, 
only  one  person  out  of  every  1,388,819  passengers 
carried,  was  injured. 

Statistics  for  the  Pennsylvania  lines  east  of  Pitts- 
burg,  directly  operated,  show  a  total  of  88,328,604 
passengers  carried  in  1908,  and  but  51  injured  in 
train  accidents.  On  the  lines  west  of  Pittsburg, 


n8         LABOR  AND   THE  RAILROADS 

directly  operated,  22,314,209  passengers  were  car- 
ried during  the  year,  and  there  were  but  17  injured 
as  the  result  of  train  accidents. 

Of  the  subsidiary  lines,  independently  operated, 
the  Long  Island  Railroad  carried  during  the  year 
23,242,838  passengers,  and  only  17  were  injured  in 
train  accidents.  This  line  has  now  been  operated  for 
some  fifteen  years  without  a  fatality  to  a  passenger 
due  to  a  train  wreck. 

Some  idea  of  the  significance  of  these  figures  on 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  may  be  drawn  from  the 
fact  that  for  the  same  period  on  all  railroads  within 
the  state  of  Massachusetts  eleven  passengers  were 
killed  and  fifty  injured,  while  the  number  of  passen- 
gers carried  was  less  by  several  millions. 

Unfortunately  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commis- 
sion does  not  furnish  tables  from  which  comparison 
can  be  made.  My  request  for  specific  information  of 
this  nature  elicited  the  following  reply  from  the 
Chairman  of  the  Commission :  "  It  has  never  been 
the  custom  of  the  Commission  to  make  public  the 
summaries  of  the  accident  reports  from  individual 
roads." 

But  my  interest  in  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  has 
comparatively  little  to  do  with  its  size  and  equipment. 
My  interest  and  story  are  centred  in  the  fact  that 
it  is  a  personally  managed  railroad,  and  that  organ- 
ized labor,  or  rather,  certain  of  its  leaders,  have  now 


THE  CASE   OF  THE  PENNSYLVANIA     n9 

started  a  campaign,  the  avowed  object  of  which  is 
to  put  an  end  to  this  system  or  method  of  manage- 
ment. The  point  to  be  considered  by  the  public  is 
whether  or  not  their  interests  will  suffer  if  this 
movement  is  successful. 

Some  time  ago  a  concerted  move  was  made  by 
the  four  railroad  brotherhoods  on  all  lines  west  of 
Chicago,  and  a  blanket  agreement  was  executed 
covering  all  roads  west  of  that  point.  That  is  to  say, 
so  far  as  possible,  uniform  wages  and  similar  treat- 
ment and  privileges  were  desired  for  the  brother- 
hood men.  A  similar  movement  is  now  on  foot  east 
of  Chicago,  and  the  great,  and  practically  the  only, 
stumbling-block  in  its  way  is  the  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road. Nearly  all  the  big  roads  have  already  given 
up  the  fight,  and  have  signed  agreements  which 
recognize  and  accept  the  principle  of  dual  manage- 
ment, with  all  that  follows  in  its  train.  It  is  now, 
of  course,  very  important  to  get  the  Pennsylvania 
System  into  line. 

My  attention  was  first  directed  to  the  dissatis- 
faction of  organized  labor  with  the  personal  policy 
and  management  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  in 
December,  1908,  by  certain  headlines  and  articles 
that  appeared  from  time  to  time  in  the  public  prints. 
The  following  are  some  of  these  headlines  :  — 

"Pennsylvania  firm  to  Engineers." 


120         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

"General  Manager  refuses  to  recognize  the 
Brotherhood  and  quits  Washington." 

"  Strike  averted  on  Pennsylvania  Railroad." 
"Mediation  is  effective." 

The  inside  history  of  this  campaign  and  of  other 
campaigns  of  a  similar  nature  that  were  under  way 
about  the  same  time,  with  similar  objects  in  view, 
is  very  interesting.  Of  course  it  was  not  a  very  easy 
matter  to  collect  information  and  statistics  in  regard 
to  this  inside  history.  But  while  the  negotiations 
were  being  carried  on  certain  documents  in  regard 
to  the  matter  were  circulated,  the  substance  of 
which  was  communicated  to  the  press.  For  the  rest 
my  facts,  and  the  story  that  is  attached  to  them, 
were  secured  by  means  of  personal  interviews  with 
some  of  the  principals  in  the  controversy.  The 
nature  of  the  issue,  and  its  relation  to  the  public 
safety,  must  be  my  excuse  for  making  use  in  the 
freest  manner  of  every  item  of  information  I  was 
able  to  obtain,  regardless  of  its  source.  The  investi- 
gation was  thus  a  personally  conducted  one  in  every 
way,  and  only  the  writer  is  to  be  considered  respons- 
ible for  the  narrative  and  the  opinion  attached  to  it. 

On  October  26,  1908,  Mr.  Burgess,  the  Assistant 
Grand  Chief  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  En- 
gineers, addressed  a  communication  to  Mr.  G.  L. 
Peck,  General  Manager  of  the  Pennsylvania  lines 


THE  CASE  OF  THE  PENNSYLVANIA     121 

west  of  Pittsburg,  in  which  he  requested  an  inter- 
view for  the  purpose  of  considering  a  bill  of  re- 
quests which  the  general  committee  of  adjustment 
had  drawn  up.  Mr.  Peck  replied  :  — 

"  I  beg  to  advise  that  it  is  the  fixed  policy  of  this 
company  that  all  matters  relating  to  wages,  or  work- 
ing conditions,  must  be  first  taken  up  with  the  Divi- 
sion Superintendents  for  adjustment,  before  appeal 
can  be  taken  to  any  higher  officer.  .  .  .  The  rights 
of  employees  are  amply  safeguarded  by  the  present 
rule,  which  provides  that  employees,  upon  failing  to 
adjust  their  matters  with  the  Superintendent,  may 
appeal  to  the  General  Superintendent,  and  finally 
to  the  General  Manager.  We  cannot,  therefore, 
consider  any  such  change  in  our  policy  as  is  con- 
templated in  your  letter." 

On  October  27,  Mr.  Burgess  appealed  to  the 
President  of  the  Pennsylvania  System  by  telegraph, 
substantially  as  follows  :  — 

"  Mr.  Peck's  attitude  forces  me  to  appeal  to  you, 
as  it  is  very  essential  to  the  interests  of  your  com- 
pany, as  well  as  the  men,  that  this  matter  be 
adjusted  at  the  earliest  possible  moment.  The  se- 
riousness of  the  situation  demands  your  prompt 
attention." 

The  reply  from  the  President  of  the  road  was  as 
follows :  — 

"  Answering  your  telegram  of  yesterday,  I  beg  to 


122         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

say  that  the  General  Manager  is  the  officer  desig- 
nated by  this  company  for  dealing  finally  with  all 
questions  arising  between  the  management  and  the 
employees." 

Thereupon  negotiations  were  resumed  between 
Mr.  Burgess  and  the  General  Manager,  and  com- 
munications were  exchanged  at  intervals  until  No- 
vember 19,  when  matters  were  brought  to  a  head 
and  Mr.  Peck  was  informed,  "As  you  have  re- 
fused to  grant  any  concession  that  would  lead  to 
the  adjudication  of  the  whole  matter,  the  only 
course  open  to  us  was  to  submit  the  questions  to 
your  engineers  in  the  form  of  the  attached  ballot. 
After  polling  the  system  all  ballots  have  been 
returned  and  counted,  and  we  are  now  in  a  position 
to  officially  inform  you  that  82%  of  your  engineers 
have  expressed  themselves  in  favor  of  an  issue." 

On  November  21,  no  reply  having  been  received 
to  this  notification,  Mr.  Burgess  finally  wrote  to 
Mr.  Peck :  "  It  now  becomes  my  imperative  duty 
to  inform  you  that  I  can  wait  no  longer  than  twelve 
o'clock  to-day.  Failing  to  hear  from  you  by  that 
time,  we  will  invoke  the  aid  of  the  Erdman  Act." 

On  November  24,  Messrs.  Martin  A.  Knapp, 
Chairman  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commis- 
sion, and  Chas.  P.  Neill,  Commissioner  of  the  Bu- 
reau of  Labor,  were  called  upon,  under  the  act  of 
June  i,  1898,  commonly  known  as  the  Erdman  Act, 


THE  CASE  OF  THE   PENNSYLVANIA     123 

to  use  their  friendly  offices  in  the  controversy,  and 
on  December  4  a  "  Proposal  for  Settlement "  was 
drawn  up  and  finally  agreed  to  and  signed  by  all 
the  interested  parties.  The  temporary  nature  of 
this  settlement  was  significantly  emphasized  when, 
a  few  days  later,  on  December  7,  1908,  a  meeting 
between  the  managers  and  committees  was  held  in 
Pittsburg,  at  which  only  such  requests  as  had  been 
presented  to  the  Superintendents,  and  properly  ap- 
pealed, were  considered. 

But  while  these  negotiations  were  being  carried 
on  between  the  engineers  and  the  manager,  the 
same  issues  were  being  advocated  and  insisted  upon 
from  another  quarter. 

In  the  month  of  October,  1908,  the  Joint  Pro- 
tective Board  of  the  Firemen  convened  in  the  city 
of  Pittsburg.  At  this  meeting  a  set  of  ten  articles 
was  provided.  A  sub-committee  was  immediately 
appointed,  which  took  up  the  whole  business  with 
Mr.  Peck.  Eight  of  the  articles  which  had  been  pre- 
pared related  to  the  equipment  of  engines  and  to 
the  services  and  duties  of  the  firemen.  Articles  9 
and  10  were  as  follows:  — 

No.  9.  "  Any  engineman,  fireman,  or  hostler,  who 
considers  that  an  injustice  has  been  done  him,  shall 
have  the  right  to  present  his  grievance  for  adjust- 
ment, to  the  proper  officer  or  officers  of  the  company 
by  a  committee  of  his  own  selection,  without  said 


124         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

employee  first  having  personally  to  appeal  his  case. 
The  right  to  appeal  to  the  highest  official  of  the 
company  is  conceded." 

No.  10.  "The  proper  officer  of  the  Lines  west 
of  Pittsburg  will  enter  into  a  written  agreement 
with  the  committee  of  Firemen  and  Enginemen 
representing  the  employees  in  engine  service  on 
those  lines,  agreeing  to  adopt  and  maintain  these 
rules.  Printed  copies  will  be  placed  in  the  hands  of 
all  employees  concerned." 

On  October  24  Mr.  Peck  replied  to  this  bill  of 
requests,  substantially  as  follows  :  — 

"We  cannot  consider  any  such  change  in  our 
policy  as  is  contemplated  in  Articles  9  and  10  of 
your  petition,  as  these  proposed  changes  are  only 
a  step  in  the  direction  of  eliminating  the  Superin- 
tendent completely  from  the  control  of  his  men  and 
breaking  down  that  discipline  upon  which  the  safety 
of  railroad  operation  depends. 

"  The  other  matters  in  your  petition,  while  not 
in  the  shape  of  direct  requests  for  increased  com- 
pensation, nevertheless  involve  additional  expendi- 
tures on  the  part  of  the  company  in  most  every  in- 
stance, and  under  present  conditions  they  cannot 
be  considered." 

Efforts  to  arrange  for  consultation  and  confer- 
ence between  the  sub-committees  and  the  manage- 
ment were  persisted  in  through  the  month  of  No- 


THE   CASE  OF  THE   PENNSYLVANIA     125 

vember,  and  taken  up  again  in  January,  when  the 
assistance  of  Mr.  W.  S.  Carter,  the  President  of 
the  Brotherhood,  was  requested  by  the  committee 
in  convention  in  Pittsburg. 

After  considerable  ineffectual  correspondence  the 
issue  with  the  firemen  was  placed  before  President 
McCrea,  on  February  9,  in  a  long  communication. 

A  few  days  later  the  firemen  on  the  lines  east 
and  west  of  Pittsburg  joined  forces  and  appealed  to 
President  McCrea  in  similar  terms.  The  answer  to 
both  communications  referred  the  committees  back 
to  the  General  Manager  for  adj  ustment  of  all  ques- 
tions arising  between  the  company  and  its  em- 
ployees. 

On  receipt  of  these  answers  the  committee, 
before  polling  the  system,  hesitated,  realizing  that 
the  industrial  conditions  were  not  the  best,  and 
also  taking  into  consideration  the  great  number  of 
men  unemployed.  Nevertheless  it  was  almost  the 
unanimous  opinion  of  the  committee  that  drastic 
action  was  warranted.  There  was  one  more  course 
open  to  the  committee  to  take,  and  that  was  to 
appeal  to  the  Board  of  Mediation  at  Washington, 
under  the  law  known  as  the  Erdman  Act. 

Accordingly,  an  appeal  was  made  to  the  Board 
of  Mediation,  and  the  result  of  the  correspondence 
that  followed  to  secure  this  mediation  can  best  be 
given  in  the  concluding  paragraph  of  a  letter  to  the 


126         LABOR  AND   THE  RAILROADS 

board,  in  which  General  Manager  Atterbury  put  an 
end  to  the  negotiation :  — 

"Responsibility  for  the  maintenance  of  discipline 
rests  solely  upon  the  railroad  company.  This  re- 
sponsibility can  be  neither  delegated  nor  arbitrated. 
As  the  issue  is  so  clear  and  the  principle  at  stake 
so  vital,  our  management  is  therefore  regretfully 
constrained  to  decline  arbitration  of  the  only  point 
in  question,  which  I  reiterate  is  that  in  the  inter- 
ests of  good  discipline  the  employees  shall  not 
ignore  the  Division  Superintendent  by  direct  appeal 
to  the  General  Manager." 

Having  thus  brought  the  negotiations  between 
the  management  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  and 
the  Committees  of  Engineers  and  Firemen  up  to  a 
focus,  on  March  27,  with  both  sides  resting  on 
their  oars,  with  arbitration  declined  and  no  settle- 
ment in  sight,  let  us  again  state  the  issue  and  go 
over  the  ground  from  the  viewpoint  of  the  manag- 
ers and  from  that  of  organized  labor  and  of  the 
Jnen. 

The  position  and  contention  of  the  railroad  can 
best  be  given  in  the  words  of  Mr.  W.  W.  Atterbury, 
who  was  at  the  time  General  Manager  of  the  lines 
east  of  Pittsburg. 

"There  is  no  question  of  wages,  hours  of  employ- 
ment, or  conditions  of  service  at  issue  between  the 
company  and  its  men.  The  men  are  demanding,  how- 


THE  CASE  OF  THE  PENNSYLVANIA     127 

ever,  that  when  grievances  or  demands  of  a  general 
nature  are  to  be  presented  to  the  management,  they 
shall  have  the  right  to  go  to  the  General  Manager, 
ignoring  the  Division  Superintendent  and  the  Gen- 
eral Superintendent.  To  agree  to  such  a  procedure 
would  be  subversive  of  that  disipline  upon  which 
the  company  relies  to  protect  the  safety  of  the  lives 
and  property  of  its  patrons.  It  has  been  the  policy 
of  the  Pennsylvania  System,  hvthe  interests  of  good 
discipline,  to  require  that  all  questions  that  arise 
between  the  company  and  its  employees  should  first 
be  taken  up  locally  with  Division  Superintendents. 
In  case  employees  then  desire  to  appeal  from  the 
decision  of  the  Superintendent,  they  have  the  right 
to  do  so.  The  amicable  relations  which  have  always 
existed  between  the  company  and  its  employees 
would  indicate  that  under  this  policy  the  men  have 
been  liberally  dealt  with. 

"The  general  relations  between  the  company 
and  its  men  are  most  satisfactory.  The  management 
prescribes  for  its  employees  only  such  reasonable 
regulations  and  procedures  as  are  consistent  with 
its  duties  to  the  public,  the  stockholders,  and  the 
employees  themselves.  While  it  concedes  to  em- 
ployees the  right  by  every  proper  means  to  better 
their  condition,  the  company  is  morally  bound  to 
resist  any  movement  which  tends  to  break  down 
the  discipline  upon  which  depends  the  safety  of  the 


128         LABOR  AND  THE   RAILROADS 

traveling  public,  and  the  proper  performance  of  its 
duties  as  transporters." 

From  the  side  of  the  representative  of  the  em- 
ployees the  issue  is  equally  plain  and  emphatic. 
Under  date  of  March  17,  1909,  it  was  submitted  as 
a  final  statement  of  the  employees'  position  to  the 
railroad  managers  and  to  the  Board  of  Mediation 
under  the  Erdman  Act,  in  the  following  language, 
and  signed  by  the  President  and  Vice-President  of 
the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Firemen  and  En- 
gineers, as  well  as  by  the  Chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Employees  for  the  Pennsylvania  lines 
east  and  west  of  Pittsburg. 

"First:  That  all  subjects  of  a  general  nature 
governing  employees  represented  by  the  regularly 
constituted  committee  representing  the  firemen 
that  affects  the  entire  system  under  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  General  Manager,  shall  be  passed  upon 
by  the  General  Manager,  without  discussing  the 
same  with  division  officials. 

"  Second  :  All  rules  and  regulations  affecting  that 
class  of  employees  represented  by  the  regularly  con- 
stituted committee  of  Locomotive  Firemen,  shall, 
upon  adoption,  be  signed  by  the  General  Manager. 

"Third: The  General  Manager,  upon  request  from 
the  general  chairman  of  the  Firemen's  Committee, 
shall  render  an  official  interpretation  of  any  of  said 
rules  and  regulations,  which  official  interpretation, 


THE  CASE  OF  THE  PENNSYLVANIA     129 

signed  by  himself,  shall  be  posted  on  all  Bulletin 
Boards. 

"Fourth :  That  all  matters  that  may  be  presented 
to  any  official  shall  be  answered  in  writing  within  fif- 
teen days  by  the  officers  with  whom  the  committee 
discussed  such  matters." 

Contained  in  these  reports  and  statements  we 
have  a  final  and  peremptory  demand  for  the  institu- 
tion and  recognition  of  a  schedule  on  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad,  As  we  have  seen,  both  management 
and  men  interpret  the  situation  in  that  light,  over 
their  own  signatures.  It  is  also  to  be  remembered 
that  such  a  thoroughly  capable  and  fair-minded  man- 
ager as  the  Second  Vice-President  of  the  Chicago, 
Burlington,  and  Quincy  Railroad  is  of  opinion  that 
to  withhold  a  schedule  from  the  men  would  be,  so 
far  as  his  experience  and  opinion  are  concerned,  no- 
thing more  or  less  than  an  invitation  to  chaos.  But 
Mr.  Willard  was  careful  to  explain  to  me  what  he 
meant  by  chaos.  In  his  mind  and  in  his  experience 
it  signified  a  succession  of  annoying  and  constantly 
recurring  quarrels  and  petty  strikes  all  over  the  sys- 
tem. This  unsatisfactory  state  of  affairs  was  har- 
moniously adjusted  by  acceding  to  the  demands  of 
the  employees  and  the  labor  organizations  for  writ- 
ten agreements  or  schedules,  which,  to  a  great  ex- 
tent, assured  to  all  employees  of  the  different  classes 
uniform  and  impartial  treatment.  The  granting  of 


130         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

the  schedule  was  certainly  not  to  be  taken  as  an 
indication  that  Mr.  Willard  was  not  capable  of  hand- 
ling the  situation  alone,  or  of  dealing  equitably  and 
impartially  with  his  men  if  his  authority  had  been 
sufficient  for  the  purpose.  He  simply  came  to  the 
conclusion,  after  a  comprehensive  study  of  the  situ- 
ation, that  if  he  did  not  grant  the  demands  of  the 
employees  a  warm  time  was  in  store  for  the  manage- 
ment and  the  public,  so  authority  took  a  step  back- 
ward and  parted  with  a  portion  of  its  prerogative. 

Nearly  all  other  railroads  have  been  similarly  sit- 
uated, and  have  taken  similar  measures  to  adjust 
their  difficulties.  Of  course,  as  everybody  is  aware, 
the  schedule  and  the  power  at  the  back  of  it  to-day, 
and  when  it  was  first  instituted,  are  widely  different 
concerns.  Consequently  and  reasonably,  then,  in 
any  settlement  of  this  controversy  between  the 
labor  organizations  and  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad, 
the  public  should  be  fully  informed  as  to  how  the 
schedule  has  served  its  interests  on  other  railroads, 
for,  as  stated  above,  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  and 
its  employees  are  engaged  in  a  business  that  vitally 
concerns  half  the  population  of  the  United  States. 
Naturally  the  people  would  like  to  know  what  the 
schedule  actually  means  to  them,  their  safety  in 
travel,  and  their  social  and  industrial  interests.  And 
this  question  as  to  the  adoption  of  a  schedule  on 
the  Pennsylvania,  which  is  now  hanging  in  the 


THE  CASE  OF  THE  PENNSYLVANIA     131 

balance,  brings  up  a  matter  which  is  closely  related 
to  it,  and  which  will  throw  a  good  deal  of  light  on 
the  subject. 

When  "  The  Confessions  of  a  Railroad  Signal- 
man "  was  published,  the  statements  of  the  author 
aroused  no  end  of  comment  and  criticism  among 
the  officials  of  the  Pennsylvania  System.  So  much 
so,  that  an  investigation  was  immediately  instituted 
for  the  purpose  of  discovering  to  what  extent,  if  in 
any  way,  the  condition  of  affairs  described  in  those 
articles  could  be  said  to  apply  to  Pennsylvania  meth- 
ods and  management.  It  was  evident  to  the  man- 
agers that  not  only  the  good  name  of  the  railroad, 
but  an  ordinary  consideration  for  the  safety  of  the 
public,  called  for  a  thorough  sifting  and  scrutiny  of 
the  charges.  The  scope  of  the  investigation  to  which 
I  refer,  can  be  imagined  from  the  fact  that  495  replies 
and  explanations  were  returned  by  45  operating  offi- 
cers. 

The  statements  taken  from  the  "  Confessions  " 
which  these  officials  were  called  upon  to  investigate 
and  report  upon  were  briefly  set  down,  as  follows  :  — 

Investigation  of  accidents  is  in  secret. 

Accident  reports  are  whitewashed. 

Rules  are  not  enforced. 

The  word  caution  is  misunderstood  and  misap- 
plied. 

Chances  are  taken  by  flagmen  and  others. 


132         LABOR  AND  THE   RAILROADS 

Negligence  is  unchecked. 

There  is  no  out-on-the-road  supervision. 

Train  orders  are  seldom  sent  "slowly  and  firmly  " 
as  called  for  by  the  rules. 

Labor  organizations  nullify  and  hinder  discipline 
and  pay  no  attention  to  the  interests  of  the  public. 

Members  of  an  Order  or  Brotherhood  must  act- 
ually hurt  some  one  or  do  considerable  damage  to 
property  before  they  can  be  removed. 

With  a  few  modifications  and  qualifications,  the 
substance  of  the  replies  that  were  received  from  the 
operating  officers  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
amounted  to  a  sweeping  denial  of  the  allegations,  so 
far  as  this  system  was  concerned.  Without  attempt- 
ing, at  this  stage,  to  criticise  these  replies,  the  point 
to  be  emphasized  is  that,  whatever  the  situation  may 
be  on  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  it  is  not  influenced 
by  the  workings  of  the  railroadman's  schedule.  The 
conditions  and  results  have  been  brought  about  by 
Pennsylvania  methods  and  policy.  But  while  this  is 
true,  the  Pennsylvania  management  insists  that  the 
introduction  of  the  schedule  into  its  policy  and  man- 
agement, as  now  proposed  by  some  of  its  employees, 
would  constitute  a  most  emphatic  interference  with 
discipline  and  imperil  the  safety  of  the  traveling 
public  and  the  proper  safeguarding  of  the  people's 
interests. 

Now,  by  no  possible  comparison  of  conditions  on 


THE  CASE  OF  THE  PENNSYLVANIA     133 

different  railroads  can  one  be  persuaded  that  a  gen- 
eral policy  of  this  nature,  spelling  danger  on  the 
Pennsylvania,  can  be  construed  into  a  safe  proposi- 
tion for  nearly  all  other  railroad  systems  in  the  coun- 
try. But  the  natural  and  inevitable  results  of  in- 
terference with  discipline  and  management  is  dis- 
tinctly pictured  in  the  "Confessions  of  a  Railroad 
Signalman."  The  missing  link,  then,  is  to  connect 
the  schedule  with  the  evils  anticipated  by  the  Penn. 
sylvania  management  and  thus  justify  them  in  their 
refusal  to  have  anything  to  do  with  it,  or  even  to 
accept  arbitration  or  mediation  of  any  kind  in  rela- 
tion to  it.  I  have  no  authority  whatever  from  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  to  make  an  attempt  to  justify 
their  action  in  any  way,  and  this  personal  explana- 
tion is  intended  to  cover  this  chapter  from  begin- 
ning to  end. 

But  as  I  look  at  it,  the  public  is  peculiarly  inter- 
ested in  this  problem  to-day,  actually  more  so  than 
it  is  likely  to  be  at  any  future  time.  It  is  the 
duty  of  public  opinion  to  study  and  to  understand 
the  nature  of  these  problems  ahead  of  any  possi- 
ble complication.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  the 
boom  in  business,  increase  of  accidents,  and  the  la- 
bor difficulties  are  due  at  the  same  time.  In  the  stress 
and  excitement  of  strikes  and  rumors  of  strikes,  the 
manager  is  always  unfairly  dealt  with.  People  clamor 
for  their  goods  and  mediators  are  called  upon  to  keep 


134         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

the  traffic  moving  with  but  little  reference  to  just- 
ice in  the  present  or  consequences  in  the  future. 

In  taking  issue  then  with  organized  labor  in  these 
matters  of  authority  and  the  schedule,  and  in  advo- 
cating the  soundness  of  the  Pennsylvania  system 
of  management,  it  will  be  necessary  to  start  with 
the  rudiments  of  the  topic,  and  to  follow  the  issue 
in  its  development  into  one  of  the  most  important 
industrial  problems  which  the  present  generation 
is  called  upon  to  study. 


VI 

LABOR  AND  RESPONSIBILITY 

To  begin  with  it  must  be  understood  that  the  inter- 
est of  the  people  in  the  treatment  and  condition  of 
railroad  employees  and  in  methods  of  management 
is  not  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  commonplace  indica- 
tion of  advancing  social  enlightenment.  Its  impor- 
tance has  been  emphasized  and  the  impetus  to  the 
movement  has  been  derived  from  object  lessons  relat- 
ing to  the  accident  problem  on  American  railroads. 
The  people  are  now  beginning  to  comprehend  that 
the  unexplained  death-roll  and  suffering  peculiar  to 
American  railroads,  is  a  situation  in  which  the  self- 
respect  of  the  nation  is  intimately  concerned.  Under 
stress  of  this  national  anxiety  the  industrial  problems 
on  railroads  in  their  relation  to  efficiency  of  service 
have  been  advanced  to  a  plane  of  superlative  impor- 
tance. From  no  other  standpoint  or  level,  as  it  seems 
to  me,  can  people  be  persuaded  to  reconsider  some 
of  their  pet  notions  and  convictions  concerning  cer- 
tain principles  and  standards  of  behavior,  which  are 
usually  supposed  to  be  essential  to  social  and  indus- 
trial welfare.  And  yet,  so  far  as  railroads  are  con- 
cerned, nothing  can  be  easier  to  demonstrate  than 
that  a  decided  change  of  public  opinion  in  regard  to 


136         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

the  rights  and  liberty  of  the  individual  and  to  the 
nature  and  function  of  authority  is  absolutely  imper- 
ative, if  the  sacredness  of  human  life  on  the  high- 
ways of  travel  is  still  to  be  looked  upon  as  something 
more  than  a  fanciful  theory. 

In  the  history  of  human  society,  the  term  liberty 
has  nearly  always  been  associated  with  progress  and 
betterment.  Liberty  has  been  the  banner  under 
which  advancing  civilization  has  won  innumerable 
victories.  Early  and  late  our  teachers  continue  to 
remind  us  of  its  intrinsic  importance,  and  thus  the 
masses  of  the  people  cannot  be  blamed  for  conclud- 
ing that  this  fundamental  being  granted,  all  other 
social  and  industrial  harmonies  may  be  expected  to 
follow.  Quite  recently,  Dr.  Charles  W.  Eliot  of 
Harvard  declared  that  "  Liberty  is  the  only  atmos- 
phere in  which  virtue  can  thrive." 

The  objection  to  the  broadcast  preaching  of  this 
doctrine  is  that  a  vague  principle  of  liberty  is  in- 
sisted upon  without  any  definition  or  meaning  of  the 
term  in  relation  to  virtue.  In  these  statements  of  a 
general  nature,  in  which  liberty  is  discussed,  there 
is  seldom  any  reference  to  self-restraint  or  obedience. 
In  the  popular  mind,  liberty  and  obedience  are  con- 
tradictory terms.  And  yet,  the  popular  conception 
of  liberty,  whatever  it  may  be,  is  to  a  great  extent 
the  inspiration  that  is  still  shaping  the  destiny  of  the 
American  people. 


LABOR  AND  RESPONSIBILITY         137 

In  the  wars  and  struggles  of  our  ancestors  to 
secure  civil  and  religious  liberty,  countless  human 
lives  were  devotedly  sacrificed.  Similarly  and  curi- 
ously at  the  present  day,  and  with  even  greater  sac- 
rifice of  life,  in  the  name  of  individual  and  popular 
rights  a  battle  is  being  waged  on  American  railroads, 
the  manifest  purpose  and  effect  of  which  is  to  eman- 
cipate the  employee  from  the  manager.  In  the  for- 
mer case  the  price  paid  was  usually  unavoidable  and 
always  praiseworthy,  while  in  the  latter  the  sacrifice 
of  life  is  to  a  great  extent  an  industrial  crime. 

There  has  been  no  mystery  in  the  evolution  of 
this  state  of  affairs.  It  has  arisen  from  the  laudable 
and  democratic  effort  to  give  the  individual  the 
greatest  possible  amount  of  personal  liberty  consist- 
ent with  the  best  interests  of  society.  At  the  present 
day  we  find  the  popular  conception  of  individual 
liberty  in  conflict  with  authority  in  almost  every 
phase  of  American  progress.  On  the  slightest  pro- 
vocation society  becomes  threatened  with  a  strike 
of  its  units  and  a  tie-up  of  its  minutest  as  well  as 
its  most  gigantic  enterprises.  On  the  railroads,  in 
particular,  the  situation  is  daily  becoming  more  acute 
and  dangerous.  To  be  precise,  for  individual  and 
political  reasons,  championed  for  the  most  part  on 
railroads  by  organized  labor,  authority  is  no  longer 
able  to  deal  effectively  with  industrial  relations  or 
with  the  safety  problem. 


138         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

This  dilemma  on  the  railroads,  which  so  closely 
concerns  the  convenience  and  safety  of  the  public, 
is  simply  a  question  between  personal  management 
and  management  by  trade  agreement  or  schedule. 
It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  however,  that  personal  man- 
agement is  altogether  right  and  sufficient,  or  that 
the  schedule  in  every  particular  is  wrong  and  should 
be  abolished.  The  point  for  the  people  to  understand 
is  that  the  present  combination  of  these  methods, 
now  in  force  on  most  railroads,  is  a  pact  between 
man  and  manager  from  which  the  principles  of  just- 
ice and  safety  are  slowly  yet  surely  being  eliminated. 
This  is  the  nature  of  the  pact  which  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  is  now  being  called  upon  to  adopt,  after 
generations  of  successful  personal  management. 

In  my  demonstration  of  the  actual  work  and  in- 
fluence of  the  schedule  on  American  railroads  to-day, 
let  me  begin  with  a  commonplace  idea  of  authority 
in  everyday  life. 

The  policeman 'stands  at  a  crossing  on  a  crowded 
thoroughfare.  He  is  a  striking  exemplar  of  personal 
management  and  authority.  He  must  deal  firmly  and 
justly  with  situations  as  they  arise.  His  uplifted  hand 
represents  the  law.  Practically  speaking,  there  is  no 
appeal  from  his  personal  judgment.  He  is  entrusted 
by  the  people  with  this  autocratic  authority  for  ex- 
traordinary reasons,  and  on  account  of  dangerous 
conditions.  At  all  costs  traffic  must  proceed  with 


LABOR  AND   RESPONSIBILITY         139 

regularity  and  safety.  If  the  public  are  dissatisfied 
with  his  behavior  or  his  decisions,  the  authority  and 
responsibility  of  his  office  is  not  interfered  with; 
another  officer  is  simply  put  in  his  place. 

Here  we  have  certain  principles  in  regard  to  au- 
thority followed  by  satisfactory  results.  On  the  rail- 
roads there  are  no  such  recognized  principles,  and 
consequently  no  such  results.  For  a  number  of  years 
public  opinion  has  been  trying  to  improve  the  man- 
agement of  our  railroads  by  placing  limitations  on  its 
authority  and  holding  it  up  to  public  scrutiny  as  more 
or  less  untrustworthy.  In  this  way  authority  has 
been  parceled  out  among  national  and  state  com- 
missions and  the  labor  organizations.  Improvement 
is  sought  in  every  direction  at  the  expense  of  au- 
thority. As  a  matter  of  fact,  with  even  greater  com- 
plications and  dangers  to  contend  with  than  the 
policeman  on  the  street  crossing,  the  superintendent 
on  the  railroad  should  be  equally  powerful,  and  he 
should  receive  the  support  of  law  and  public  opin- 
ion. To-day  the  superintendent  will  tell  you  that 
you  cannot  treat  railroad  men  as  the  policeman 
handles  teamsters  and  the  public.  He  is  unable  to 
do  so  because  his  superiors  have  made  bargains  and 
agreements  with  the  labor  organizations  in  which 
the  managers  are  playing  a  losing  game  from  start 
to  finish.  Superintendents  and  managers  are  losing 
ground  in  this  way. 


140         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

Whenever  a  condition  or  situation  arises  that  is 
manifestly  unjust  to  employees,  or  even  when  an 
apparently  harmless  concession  is  desired,  the  at- 
tention of  the  manager  is  called  to  it.  Nowadays 
managers  are  obliged  to  deal  fairly  with  employees. 
No  other  policy  is  now  tolerated.  Public  opinion 
and  armies  of  men  insist  upon  it.  Sooner  or  later, 
then,  a  clause  is  inserted  in  the  schedule  and  the 
wrong  is  righted.  Before  long,  however,  the  working 
of  these  rules  and  concessions  brings  to  light  un- 
foreseen situations  in  which  injustice  is  inflicted  on 
the  management,  or  the  public  safety  endangered. 
The  manager  may  protest,  but  the  committee  holds 
him  to  his  signature.  If  it  is  in  the  schedule  he  lets 
it  remain  there.  He  thinks  his  honor  is  at  stake. 
Sooner  than  have  a  row,  indignity  and  injustice  are 
swallowed.  In  this  way  and  inevitably  the  schedule 
is  continually  growing  at  the  expense  of  the  man- 
ager and  the  people.  I  asked  Vice-President  Willard 
for  his  criticism  of  this  picture.  He  replied,  "I  see 
the  point."  In  fact,  so  thoroughly  do  managers 
appreciate  this  point  that  some  of  the  foremost  rail- 
roads are  about  to  organize  a  board  of  experts  to 
scrutinize  and  pass  upon  every  word  that  goes  into 
a  schedule. 

But  in  examining  the  authority  of  the  railroad 
manager,  one  naturally  looks  round  for  its  scope 
and  influence.  How,  for  example,  does  authority 


LABOR  AND  RESPONSIBILITY         141 

protect  the  pocket-book  of  the  railroad  ?  It  should, 
at  least,  be  strong  enough  to  protect  the  exchequer 
from  injustice  and  a  sort  of  extortion  at  the  hands 
of  the  schedule.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  no  business 
establishment  on  earth  but  a  railroad  could  or  would 
put  up  with  such  a  watering  of  the  payroll,  that  is 
to  say,  the  payment  of  wages  without  an  equivalent 
return  in  work,  as  the  schedule  forces  upon  the 
American  railroad  manager.  Illustrations  are  neither 
few  nor  far  between.  They  form  part  of  the  daily 
experience  and  expenditure  on  nearly  all  railroads. 
When  business  is  rushing  the  payrolls  are  stuffed 
with  curiosities  of  the  following  description: — 

An  engineman  completes  his  run  in  seven  hours. 
He  receives  $5.25  for  the  service.  Here  we  have  a 
fair  day's  wage  for  a  fair  day's  work.  The  man  is 
then  requested  to  take  his  locomotive  a  distance  of 
two  miles  to  a  roundhouse.  He  does  so  and  receives 
another  day's  pay  and  mileage  for  service  performed 
inside  the  regular  time  limit  for  one  day's  labor.  In 
this  way,  with  the  assistance  of  his  schedule,  he  re- 
ceives about  eleven  dollars  for  eight  hours'  work. 

Again,  a  crew  reports  for  duty  at  six  A.M.  An 
emergency  arises  and  the  men  are  despatched  with 
the  wreck  train  to  a  certain  point.  The  wrecking 
service  is  finished  in  about  five  hours.  For  this  they 
receive  one  day's  pay.  Then  they  return  to  their 
regular  work  and  earn  another  day's  pay,  both  jobs 


i4»         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

being  completed  inside  the  regular  working  day  of 
eleven  hours. 

Another  crew  starts  from  a  terminal  on  a  regular 
freight  trip.  At  a  certain  point  they  are  ordered 
back  a  couple  of  miles  to  pick  up  a  car  of  delayed 
stock.  All  hands  get  an  extra  half  day  for  the  service. 
They  arrive  at  their  destination  in  nine  hours,  with 
a  day  and  a  half  to  their  credit.  The  following  day 
they  cover  the  same  trip,  and  as  business  is  brisk 
they  consume  eleven  hours  on  the  road  and  receive 
only  one  day's  pay  for  the  service. 

Once  more,  a  crew  doing  a  regular  day's  work 
is  despatched  on  some  extra  service.  The  engine- 
man  gets  extra  pay,  the  trainmen  do  not. 

From  beginning  to  end  those  inconsistencies 
are  the  work  of  the  schedule.  The  manager  sends 
a  man  to  the  right  and  pays  him  four  dollars  for  it. 
If  while  en  route  he  turns  to  the  left,  it  means  more 
money  without  any  reference  to  time  or  work.  The 
other  day  a  crew  were  instructed  to  pick  up  a  car 
of  stock.  They  telegraphed  for  an  understanding 
regarding  the  extra  pay.  They  were  ordered  to 
hurry  along  with  the  stock,  the  consignees  were 
anxiously  waiting  for  it,  the  pay  would  be  adjusted 
later.  The  men  refused,  went  along  without  the  car, 
and  were  promptly  discharged  by  the  superintend- 
ent. But  the  men  knew  what  they  were  about.  They 
were  acting  within  their  schedule  rights,  and  were 


LABOR  AND  RESPONSIBILITY         143 

reinstated.  The  interest  of  shippers  and  the  people 
in  the  schedule  must  be  apparent  to  any  one.  To 
whom  does  this  kind  of  a  payroll  and  the  agree- 
ment between  men  and  manager  appeal  ?  Do  they 
contain  any  indication  or  vestige  of  authority, 
economy  of  operation,  or  justice  to  the  people  or 
the  employer?  And  yet  railroad  managers  tamely 
submit  to  this  domination.  Public  opinion  has  never 
shown  any  inclination  to  support  them  in  any  other 
course.  They  uphold  the  schedule  as  the  only  pos- 
sible working  arrangement,  and  they  are  powerless 
to  correct  its  abuses. 

But  the  illustrations  relating  to  the  lack  of  econ- 
omy of  railroad  management  are  of  little  public  in- 
terest compared  with  the  effect  and  influence  of  the 
schedule  on  the  efficiency  and  accident  situations. 
To  begin  with,  the  tendency  of  the  method,  as  we 
find  it  in  actual  operation  to-day,  is  to  narrow  the 
sphere  of  individual  responsibility.  Under  a  positive 
system  of  personal  management  the  judgment  of 
the  superintendent  is  always  hanging  over  the  em- 
ployee, and  his  duty  then  covers  every  nook  and  cor- 
ner of  his  surroundings.  The  employee  is  then  just 
as  mindful  of  the  behavior  of  his  companions  as  he 
is  of  his  own.  He  never  can  tell  how  the  superin- 
tendent will  interpret  his  conduct.  This  element  of 
uncertainty  has  its  uses.  It  is  vitally  connected  with 
attention  and  efficiency.  But  now,  with  greater  in- 


144         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

sistence  every  day,  the  organization  is  saying  to  the 
manager  through  signed  rules,  regulations,  and 
agreements,  "I  must  know  just  how  I  stand.  In- 
terpret this  and  explain  that  and  sign  everything. 
I  want  a  safety  device  at  one  point  and  a  respons- 
ible switchman  at  another.  In  this  way,  when  trou- 
ble arises,  we  will  know  definitely  who  is  to  blame, 
and  the  area  of  responsibility  will  be  contracted  as 
much  as  possible." 

Of  course  these  identical  words  are  not  to  be  found 
in  any  schedule,  but  nearly  everywhere  on  railroads 
you  will  find  the  mental  attitude,  which  is  the  pro- 
duct of  the  theory  and  teaching  of  specific  respons- 
ibility. This  idea,  I  say,  is  fostered  by  the  schedule. 
I  have  now  before  me  a  Towerman's  Schedule  which 
is  being  prepared  for  presentation  to  a  manager  of 
a  railroad.  Article  1 6  is  as  follows  :  — 

"  Towermen  will  not  be  responsible  for  switches 
and  signals  not  connected  with  interlocking  plant." 

I  will  also  call  attention  to  what  is  called  a  "stand- 
ard rule,"  in  force  on  nearly  all  railroads. 

"  Switches  must  be  left  in  proper  position  after 
having  been  used.  Conductors  are  responsible  for 
the  position  of  the  switches  used  by  them  and  their 
trainmen,  except  where  switch-tenders  are  stationed." 

These  stipulations  on  the  surface  appear  to  be 
fair  and  reasonable,  but  the  mental  attitude  that  is 
at  once  induced  by  these  rules  is  apparent.  Practi- 


LABOR  AND   RESPONSIBILITY         145 

cally  speaking  my  interest  in  those  switches  has 
received  a  decided  setback.  General  responsibility 
under  unexpected  conditions  and  in  cases  of  emer- 
gency has  been  weakened.  On  the  railroad,  no 
employee  should  be  held  responsible  for  another 
employee's  behavior  is  all  very  well  as  a  general 
statement,  with  the  superintendent  as  judge  of  the 
circumstances,  but  at  the  same  time,  no  rule  should 
be  sanctioned  that  is  liable  to  hold  him  blameless 
if  he  is  present  and  fails  to  correct  another  man's 
mistake.  The  public  cannot  afford  to  travel  under 
any  other  understanding  or  condition.  Of  course  the 
degree  of  responsibility  is  for  the  superintendent  to 
decide,  and  this  is  just  the  veto  power  he  is  deprived 
of  to  a  great  extent  by  the  schedule. 

Let  us  take  these  rules  and  ideas  with  us  out  on 
the  road,  and  see  what  happens.  The  other  day  a 
switch  engine  and  crew  crossed  over  from  the  west 
to  an  east-bound  main  line  and  failed  to  throw  up 
the  switch  after  them.  They  then  waited  on  the 
east-bound  main  line  nearly  half  an  hour  for  a  west- 
bound passenger  train  to  go  by.  This  passenger 
train  came  along,  running  forty  miles  an  hour,  took 
the  open  switch,  and  crashed  into  the  switcher,  kill- 
ing or  injuring  four  or  five  people.  It  was  a  regular 
switchman's  duty  to  attend  to  that  switch,  but  he 
was  at  dinner  at  the  time,  and  not  a  man  connected 
with  the  switcher  gave  the  matter  a  thought.  The 


146         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

blame  for  the  accident  was  placed  on  the  switchman 
who  was  not  there.  It  is  useless  for  other  managers 
to  exclaim  :  "I  would  have  discharged  every  man 
on  that  switcher."  It  would  depend  altogether  on 
the  strength  of  the  organization  that  called  atten- 
tion to  the  wording  of  the  rule,  and  the  significance 
of,  "except  where  a  switchman  is  stationed" 

However  this  may  be,  the  mental  attitude  in  re- 
gard to  specific  responsibility  remains,  and  the  issue 
and  its  influence  permeates  railroad  life  from  one 
end  to  the  other.  In  my  illustration  it  is  very  diffi- 
cult to  account  for  the  seeming  apathy  of  five  or  six 
men,  under  conditions  when  their  own  lives  were 
in  such  obvious  peril,  unless  they  were  under  the 
spell  of  a  principle  or  a  habit.  Untrammeled  per- 
sonal management  stands  for  the  widest  possible 
system  of  general  responsibility,  with  the  judgment 
and  opinion  of  the  superintendent  hanging  over 
every  issse  and  every  situation,  and  the  system  is 
at  all  times  in  the  best  interest  of  the  people  who 
ride  or  work  on  the  trains.  Specific  responsibility 
and  its  encouragement  is  to  a  great  extent  the  work 
of  organized  labor,  assisted  by  legislation  and  pub- 
lic opinion  in  their  efforts  to  compel  the  manager 
to  define  his  position  and,  practically  speaking,  give 
bonds  for  his  good  behavior.  Organized  labor  now 
proposes  to  substitute  the  latter  for  the  former  on 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad. 


LABOR  AND   RESPONSIBILITY         147 

But  in  its  own  interests  it  is  most  important  that 
the  public  should  be  thoroughly  posted  on  the  situa- 
tion, and  therefore  illustrations  must  not  be  spared. 
The  following  is  an  extract  from  an  article  in  the 
May,  1909,  issue  of  the  "  Brotherhood  of  Locomo- 
tive Firemen  and  Enginemen's  Magazine,"  under 
the  caption,  "Another  Judicial  Outrage.  Brother 
sentenced  to  jail." 

"  On  January  2/th  last,  Brother  Kennedy,  Engin- 
eer, and  Brother  Frank  T.  Lane,  Fireman,  as  the 
crew  of  Engine  584  left  Stratford  out  at  5  130  A.  M. 
hauling  a  way  freight  bound  for  Owen  Sound,  in 
charge  of  Conductor  M.  Fleming.  All  went  well 
until  leaving  Harriston  ;  instead  of  taking  the  curve 
for  Owen  Sound,  for  which  four  blasts  of  the  whistle 
should  be  given,  they  took  the  straight  track  for 
Southampton.  They  gave  four  blasts  of  the  whistle 
to  go  to  the  pork  factory,  the  factory  being  situated 
on  the  branch  leading  to  Owen  Sound.  On  coming 
back  for  their  train,  intending  to  pull  right  out,  they 
took  it  for  granted  that  the  switchman  had  left  the 
switch  open  for  them,  but  he  had  closed  it  after  they 
had  backed  over  it,  so  of  course  they  did  not  notice 
they  were  taking  the  wrong  track.  They  pulled  up 
and  left  immediately  and,  as  a  very  severe  snow- 
storm was  raging  at  the  time,  they  failed  to  notice 
they  were  taking  the  wrong  track  and  proceeded 
three  miles,  meeting  Engine  311  pulling  the  South- 


148         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

ampton  way  freight.  The  Fireman  of  No.  311, 
Brother  Mortimer  Root  of  Wellington  Lodge  1 8 1, 
and  a  brakeman  of  the  Southampton  way  freight 
were  killed  and  the  engineer  injured.  At  the  time 
of  the  collision  the  entire  train  crew  was  in  the 
caboose  eating  dinner."  They  all  depended  upon  the 
specific  behavior  and  responsibility  of  the  switch- 
man, but  under  the  Canadian  law  the  entire  train 
and  engine  crew  were  found  guilty  by  the  jury  of 
criminal  negligence.  Disregarding  the  fact  that  the 
men  were  found  guilty  by  the  jury,  the  article  at- 
tacks the  judge  for  his  decision  and  calls  the  prin- 
ciple of  general  responsibility  in  the  case  an  outrage. 
Under  the  influence  of  this  specific  idea  managers 
themselves  are  beginning  to  lose  their  bearings. 
The  other  day,  on  a  Western  railroad,  a  heavy 
freight  pulled  into  a  yard  a  good  deal  faster  than 
the  rule  allowed.  Smoke  and  steam  from  other 
locomotives  and  a  slight  fog  obscured  the  view  and 
called  for  added  caution.  The  incoming  freight 
smashed  into  the  caboose  of  another  train  standing 
in  the  yard.  An  employee  in  the  caboose,  in  trying 
to  escape,  got  pinned  in  between  the  cars.  The 
wreck  immediately  caught  fire  and  the  man  met  a 
terrible  fate.  The  verdict  of  the  management,  to 
begin  with,  placed  the  sole  blame  on  the  engineer 
of  the  in-going  freight.  But  the  coroner  who  investi- 
gated the  accident  took  a  different  view  of  the  mat- 


LABOR  AND   RESPONSIBILITY         149 

ter.  Consequently  there  was  a  reconsideration  and 
scrutiny  of  the  rules  and  a  comparison  of  opinion 
among  managers  of  other  railroads,  and  finally  the 
responsibility  of  others  besides  the  enginemen  was 
clearly  demonstrated,  and  the  original  decision  was 
amended  accordingly. 

But  this  movement  and  tendency  in  the  interests 
of  specific  responsibility  is  not  confined  to  the 
effects  of  organized  labor  or  those  railroad  man- 
agers who  have  been  brought  under  its  influence. 
The  following  is  the  substance  of  a  communication 
recently  addressed  by  the  management  of  a  rail- 
road to  the  Chairman  of  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission: — 

It  appears  that  inspectors  of  the  commission, 
charged  with  the  duty  of  securing  the  observance 
of  the  safety  appliance  acts,  permitted  cars,  which 
they  inspected  in  different  yards  and  found  lacking 
in  some  of  the  appliances  prescribed  by  the  act,  to 
go  forward  without  notifying  the  yard  masters.  In 
this  way,  the  movement  of  these  cars  while  thus  de- 
fective was  permitted.  The  railroad  took  the  posi- 
tion that  the  purpose  of  Congress  in  enacting  these 
statutes  was  to  promote  the  safety  of  the  railroad 
employees,  but  in  the  opinion  of  the  management, 
the  commission  inspectors  evidently  acted  under 
the  mistaken  impression  that  the  main  intent  of 
the  statutes  was  the  imposition  of  fines  upon  rail- 


iSo         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

road  companies,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  inspectors 
thought  they  could  best  perform  their  duties  by 
failing  to  disclose  these  defects  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  evidence  against  the  railroad  company. 
The  managers,  as  I  understand  it,  respectfully 
requested  that  the  commission  inspectors  should  be 
instructed  to  notify  yard  masters  of  these  defects, 
so  that  the  safety  of  employees,  and  incidentally 
the  safety  of  the  traveling  public,  might  be  taken 
care  of. 

The  commissioners  in  their  reply  insisted  upon 
the  specific  responsibility  of  the  railroad  companies 
and  declined  to  render  the  requested  assistance. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  science  of  railroading 
consists  in  the  shifting  of  responsibility.  This  pro- 
cess may  be  satisfactory  to  those  who  depend  upon 
making  their  records  in  this  way,  but  in  the  event 
of  accidents  arising  under  the  conditions  and  cir- 
cumstances mentioned,  it  is  doubtful  if  the  injured 
or  the  public  would  take  the  same  view  of  the  case 
as  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission. 

But  the  more  we  look  into  it  the  more  universal 
and  dangerous  do  these  evils  of  specific  responsibil- 
ity, and  the  undermining  of  authority  which  follow 
in  the  train  of  the  schedule,  appear. 

Some  time  ago,  on  a  Western  railroad,  a  freight 
train  started  on  a  trip  with  a  train  of  cars  thoroughly 
equipped  with  safety  appliances  in  good  working 


LABOR  AND  RESPONSIBILITY         151 

order.  Arriving  at  a  certain  point  they  picked  up 
six  additional  cars,  and  then  proceeded  on  their  way 
down  a  steep  mountain  grade.  Before  long  the  en- 
gineman  lost  control  of  his  train  and  finally  dashed 
into  a  work  train  ahead,  and  ten  people  were  killed 
in  the  wreck  that  ensued.  Investigation  into  the 
cause  of  the  accident  brought  to  light  the  facts  that 
the  equipment  had  been  complete  and  in  good  work- 
ing order,  but  that  only  six  cars  with  air  had  been 
in  service.  Every  employee  on  the  train  was  more 
or  less  responsible  for  failure  to  hitch  up  the  full 
equipment  which  was  provided  for  the  purpose,  and 
which  the  law  calls  for.  It  is  unnecessary  to  look  into 
the  matter  of  the  discipline  imposed  in  this  case, 
for  the  principal  offender  or  offenders  were  killed. 
I  wish,  however,  to  take  note  of  the  effect  which  an 
accident  of  such  a  serious  nature  has  on  the  public 
mind,  and  on  the  responsible  conscience  of  the  com- 
munity. 

In  brief,  it  at  once  became  evident  to  the  people 
that  extraordinary  legislation  was  necessary  to  com- 
pel the  railroad  to  put  a  stop  to  accidents  of  this 
nature.  For  one  thing  it  was  plain  to  those  who 
jumped  into  the  breach,  that  the  percentage  of  cars 
in  any  train  required  by  law  to  be  equipped  and 
operated  should  at  once  be  increased ;  that  an  addi- 
tional number  of  railroad  inspectors  should  be  hired 
and  located  at  way  stations,  and  under  certain  con- 


152         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

ditions  extra  brakemen  to  man  the  trains  should  also 
be  insisted  upon.  This  actually  represented  the  an- 
swer and  influence  of  public  opinion  which  was  ex- 
erted in  various  ways  after  its  investigation  of  the 
accident  to  which  I  refer.  It  signified  thousands  of 
dollars  of  added  expenditure  without  even  a  glance 
at  the  cause  of  these  accidents,  or  a  word  of  sup- 
port or  encouragement  to  superintendent  and  man- 
agers in  their  efforts  to  secure  efficiency  and'safety 
of  operation  by  emphasizing  the  necessity  for  a  strict 
observance  of  rules  and  the  proper  use  of  the  ample 
equipment  which  was  already  provided. 

The  following  is  another  illustration  of  the  kind 
of  support  the  management  of  railroads  receive  when 
they  detect  danger  and  take  measures  to  protect 
the  public  interests  as  well  as  their  own. 

Railroad  managers,  very  naturally,  pay  particular 
attention  to  the  handling  of  trains  on  heavy  grades, 
and  so  does  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission. 
Some  time  ago  some  of  the  railroads  protested  that 
the  use  of  these  air  brakes  alone  on  heavy  grades 
was  a  hazardous  matter,  for  in  case  of  an  accident 
to  the  air  brakes  with  the  hand  brakes  unmanned, 
the  danger  arose  of  a  runaway  train  with  consequent 
heavy  loss  of  life  and  destruction  of  property.  No 
consideration  of  expense  entered  into  the  question, 
for  the  railroads  carry  as  large  a  complement  of  men 
whether  both  brakes  are  in  service  or  only  one.  It 


LABOR  AND  RESPONSIBILITY          153 

was  solely  a  question  of  safety  to  the  public  and 
employees.  The  commission  sent  out  a  great  many 
inspectors  to  make  an  investigation,  and  in  its  offi- 
cial report  to  Congress  had  this  to  say  on  the  sub- 
ject :  — 

"  The  question  of  the  safe  handling  of  trains  on 
heavy  grades  has  been  brought  to  the  attention  of 
the  commission,  it  being  contended  that  a  literal 
interpretation  of  the  law  requires  that  trains  shall 
be  handled  exclusively  by  means  of  air  brakes  under 
all  circumstances  and  conditions  of  train  operations. 
The  object  and  intent  of  the  law  is  to  save  life.  If 
trains  cannot  be  handled  on  these  heavy  grades 
without  the  use  of  hand  brakes,  it  is  certainly  not 
the  intent  of  the  law  that  they  be  controlled  by  air 
alone.  Th«  commission  has  made  a  very  extensive 
examination  of  the  practice  in  handling  trains  on 
heavy  grades  in  all  parts  of  the  country." 

To  Washington,  immediately  following  this  report, 
went  representatives  of  trainmen's  unions,  and  pro- 
tested against  the  commission's  construction  of  the 
statute.  The  "  Railroad  Trainman,"  the  official  or- 
gan of  the  Brotherhood  of  Railroad  Trainmen,  com- 
mented on  the  matter  as  follows  : — 

"The  commission  has,  on  previous  occasions, 
taken  it  upon  itself  to  interpret  the  safety  appliance 
law,  without  regard  to  all  its  provisions,  and  its  lat- 
est attempt  to  read  into  the  law  something  that  was 


154         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

never  intended  to  be  a  part  of  it,  is  one  of  the  most 
outrageous  assumptions  of  authority  that  have  ever 
been  attempted  by  a  government  department  in 
recent  years." 

Whereupon  the  commission  took  it  all  back  and 
altered  the  report  which  was  already  in  the  hands 
of  Congress,  and  substituted  an  amended  clause, 
which  promised  to  furnish  to  the  public  the  inspec- 
tor's reports  and  a  reconsideration  of  the  points  at 
issue.  The  reports,  by  the  way,  are  not  forthcom- 
ing. 

The  power  behind  the  scenes  in  this  illustration 
is  the  same  firm  hand  curbing  and  limiting  the 
properly  constituted  authority  which  we  found  at 
work  on  the  payroll,  on  the  schedule,  and  in  vari- 
ous other  avenues,  through  which  the  service  and 
public  opinion  are  influenced. 


VII 

LABOR,  AUTHORITY  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

IN  the  survey  which  I  have  given,  I  have  drawn 
attention  to  the  specific  dangers  of  management  by 
schedule,  beginning  with  its  effect  on  the  employee 
at  the  switch,  all  the  way  up  to  the  influence  which 
the  power  behind  this  schedule  exerts  on  public 
and  legislative  opinion,  upon  which  the  authority 
on  railroads  must  always  depend  for  moral  support 
and  encouragement  in  all  their  efforts  to  secure  the 
economic  success  and  efficiency  of  the  operating 
department.  For  the  rest,  a  word  remains  in  review 
and  conclusion. 

From  the  viewpoint  of  the  people  perhaps  the 
most  important  phase  of  the  situation  on  railroads 
relates  to  the  settlement  of  disputes  between  the 
management  and  men.  I  am  sure  the  people  have 
an  idea  that  their  representatives  have  or  should 
have,  in  the  first  place  and  above  all,  the  interests 
of  the  people  in  mind,  when  they  are  called  upon  to 
arbitrate  or  to  mediate  in  such  controversies.  That 
is  to  say,  the  official  mediator,  in  order  to  be  fair 
to  all  concerned,  should  be  guided  in  his  delibera- 
tions and  findings  by  the  merits  of  the  case.  It 


156         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

should  be  understood  that  the  mediator  stands  for 
something  besides  peace  at  any  price. 

It  must  be  evident  to  fair-minded  people  that  in 
the  midst  of  disturbance  and  strikes,  the  manager 
or  the  employees  are  liable  to  be  unfairly  dealt 
with  in  the  hurry  to  patch  up  some  kind  of  a  truce. 
At  such  times,  authority,  its  functions  and  future 
status,  should  not  be  lost  sight  of. 

For  example,  the  people  look  to  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission  and  the  Board  of  Mediators 
under  the  Erdman  Act  to  represent  their  interests 
in  labor  disputes.  It  may  be  claimed  that  the  law 
looks  upon  this  mediation  merely  as  the  offering 
of  friendly  offices,  but  in  fact,  after  a  settlement 
has  been  made  by  means  of  said  "mediation,"  it  is 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  public  have  the 
impression  that  their  interests  have  been  zealously 
taken  care  of  by  the  chairmen  of  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission  and  the  Labor  Commission. 
If  not,  in  whose  charge  are  these  interests  ? 

With  a  view  of  finding  out  just  how  the  board, 
under  the  Erdman  Act,  approached  and  considered 
these  disputes,  the  writer  asked  Chairman  Knapp 
for  a  statement  of  his  views  on  the  subject.  He 
replied  :  "  We  have  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  the 
merits  of  a  case ;  our  business  and  function  is  to 
keep  the  traffic  moving." 

Bearing  in  mind  the  fact  that  disputes,  even  on 


LABOR,   AUTHORITY   AND   RAILROADS    157 

railroads,  are  never  settled  until  they  are  settled  on 
their  merits,  and  looking  into  the  future,  the  inter- 
ests of  the  people  in  these  so-called  settlements  will 
surely  bear  watching.  Disputes  temporarily  arranged 
in  this  way  are  simply  transferred  to  legislative 
bodies  throughout  the  different  states,  and  in  their 
assemblies,  just  at  present,  the  manager  and  his 
authority  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  in  the  hands  of 
their  friends. 

In  the  next  place,  and  face  to  face  with  these 
very  conditions,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad  is  now  confronted  with  a  problem, 
which  is  certain,  when  business  permits,  to  agitate 
the  railroad  and  industrial  world  to  its  centre.  In 
this,  as  in  all  other  controversies,  public  opinion 
must  always  be  the  court  of  final  resort.  The  reader 
of  the  correspondence  and  evidence  in  this  volume 
will  not  need  to  be  informed  that  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  has  put  down  its  foot  with  unmistakable 
emphasis,  and  proposes  to  stick  to  its  own  idea  of 
the  function  of  authority,  and  the  meaning  of  its 
responsibility  to  the  public. 

In  opposition  to  this  stand  of  the  manager,  the 
advocates  of  the  schedule  call  attention  to  their 
rights  and  their  wrongs,  and  propose  to  encroach 
on  the  domain  of  the  management  for  the  purpose 
of  adjusting  their  grievances.  My  endeavor  in  this 
article  has  been  to  demonstrate  not  that  a  schedule/ 


158         LABOR  AND  THE   RAILROADS 

in  all  industries,  is  a  mistake,  but  that  on  the  rail- 
roads, as  it  works  to-day,  and  as  it  is  calculated  to 
fulfill  its  mission  in  the  future,  it  is  a  dangerous 
encroachment  on  the  prerogative  of  the  manager. 
I  have  tried  to  make  evident  how  and  along  what 
lines  the  public  is  called  upon  to  suffer  for  all  en- 
croachments of  this  nature. 

The  point  for  all  to  understand  is  that  while  fair 
and  reasonable  methods  of  management  should  be 
insisted  upon,  the  reform  of  the  department  should 
not  be  attempted  at  the  expense  of  its  authority. 
The  United  States  Supreme  Court  has  recently 
said,  "  In  no  proper  sense  is  the  public  a  general 
manager."  This  surely  applies  with  equal  force  to 
any  combination  or  union  of  employees.  In  combat- 
ing the  entrance  of  the  schedule  into  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  and  in  refusing 
to  permit  the  grand  chiefs  of  the  brotherhoods  to 
define  the  policy  of  the  railroad  and  to  share  in  its 
administrations  by  making  changes  in  the  duties 
and  functions  of  the  superintendents,  the  manage- 
ment is  doing  the  public  a  great  service.  As  it  ap- 
pears to  me,  the  management  proposes  to  head  off 
the  first  appearance  of  a  hydra-headed  movement 
the  manifest  purpose  of  which  is  to  divide  the 
headquarters  of  attention  and  authority  between 
the  committee  rooms  of  the  brotherhoods  and  the 
superintendent's  office. 


LABOR,  AUTHORITY  AND  RAILROADS    159 

Nevertheless,  it  is  also  true  that  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  has  always  granted  to  its  men  every  free- 
dom to  organize  into  unions  and  to  utilize  every 
legitimate  opportunity  to  better  their  conditions. 
Labor  leaders,  who  are  employees,  are  given  leave 
of  absence  whenever  requested,  to  attend  to  organ- 
ization duties.  The  men  are  granted  passes  freely, 
and  even  when  it  is  known  that  a  strike  ballot  is 
being  taken,  the  privileges  of  the  men  and  the  labor 
leaders  are  not  curtailed  in  the  slightest  degree.  I 
have  been  assured  by  those  in  authority  on  the  Penn- 
sylvania Railroad,  not  only  that  the  organization 
of  the  employees  into  unions  is  looked  upon  as 
right  and  necessary,  but  that  the  men  are  also  justi- 
fied in  electing  the  fittest  and  strongest  men  as 
leaders.  But  a  different  question  is  presented  when 
a  professional  leader,  who  is  not  an  employee,  enters 
the  situation  to  gather  glory  for  an  organization,  as 
such,  without  regard  to  any  loyalty  to  or  sympathy 
with  the  ideas  and  policy  of  the  management. 

The  general  effect  and  result  of  this  system  of 
dual  management,  which  the  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road management  is  combating,  has  been  explained, 
according  to  my  view  of  it,  in  the  "  Confessions  of 
a  Railroad  Signalman."  In  the  "Railroad  Age  Ga- 
zette" of  June  18,  1909,  a  statement  of  the  writer 
of  those  articles  to  the  effect  that  "labor  unions 
favored  by  a  public  sentiment,  hostile  to  the  roads, 


160         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

have  so  deprived  the  railroads  of  control  over  their 
men  that  the  manager  has  become  helpless  to  en- 
force obedience  to  rules  and  secure  good  work,"  is 
noted  with  the  following  comment:  "This  is  an  ex- 
treme statement,  but  it  is  not  without  basis."  And 
yet,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  by  no  means  an  exag- 
gerated view  of  the  situation. 

In  this  respect  there  is  a  clashing  between  opin- 
ions and  results.  Nine  superintendents  out  of  ten 
may  call  it  an  exaggerated  statement,  and  yet  if  they 
will  consult  their  accident  and  breakage  reports  for 
the  past  four  or  five  years  they  will  perceive  that  re- 
gardless of  all  efforts  and  precautions  there  actually 
has  been  a  failure  to  secure  satisfactory  service,  and 
the  public  at  times  has  been  painfully  aware  of  this 
fact.  On  all  railroads  superintendents  have  been 
unable  to  secure  good  results,  just  to  the  extent  and 
in  the  ratio  that  they  have  been  unable  to  direct, 
control,  and  discipline  the  mental  attitude  of  the 
men  on  their  divisions.  The  tendency  and  effect  of 
the  schedule  along  various  lines,  together  with  the 
economic  doctrines  and  personal  ambitions  of  many 
labor  leaders,  have  succeeded  in  dividing  the  alle- 
giance of  the  men  to  the  injury  of  the  service.  No 
other  system  of  reasoning  or  appreciation  of  values 
and  results  can  account  for  the  emphatic  declaration 
of  General  Manager  Peck  of  the  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road, that  to  enter  into  a  written  agreement  with 


LABOR,   AUTHORITY   AND   RAILROADS    x6i 

the  employees,  or  to  accept  a  schedule  such  as  the 
Brotherhood  of  Firemen  and  Enginemen  are  now 
insisting  upon  on  his  system,  "is  only  a  step  in  the 
direction  of  eliminating  the  superintendent  com- 
pletely from  the  control  of  his  men,  and  breaking 
down  that  discipline  upon  which  the  safety  of  rail- 
road operation  depends." 

But  no  treatise  on  Labor  and  Authority  on  the 
Railroad  would  be  complete  without  a  glance  at  the 
professional  trouble  maker.  He  is  now  a  recognized 
quantity  on  nearly  all  systems.  I  do  not  care  to  say 
that  trouble  makers  of  this  description  are  at  the 
bottom  of  the  present  controversy  between  the 
Firemen  and  Enginemen  and  the  Pennsylvania 
management  because  I  have  no  information  on  the 
subject,  but  it  is  to  be  noticed  that  the  management 
in  many  circulars  and  public  notices  has  been 
continually  emphasizing  the  well-known  and  long- 
established  loyalty  of  all  classes  of  its  employees, 
and  the  entirely  satisfactory  results  that  have  been 
obtained  by  means  of  their  never-failing  coopera- 
tion and  faithful  services. 

But  this  kind  of  voluntary  and  cooperative  rela- 
tionship is  an  abomination  to  the  salaried  trouble 
maker.  When  all  is  well  there  is  nothing  doing  in 
his  department,  and  his  clients  are  liable  to  ask  him, 
"  What  are  you  there  for  ? "  Under  his  soulless 
supervision  the  best  intentions  of  both  employees 


162         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

and  managers  are  turned  awry.  No  management 
is  safe  from  this  disturbing  influence. 

Some  six  or  seven  years  ago,  the  Burlington  offi- 
cials gave  careful  consideration  to  the  problem  of 
increasing  the  company's  business.  Increase  of 
business  on  a  railroad  doesn't  just  happen;  it  has 
to  be  thought  out  and  worked  out  by  the  managers. 
So  the  Burlington  road  finally  decided  that  the 
most  promising  opening  was  to  try  and  develop  a 
coal  movement  from  Southern  Illinois  to  the  cities 
of  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis,  and  the  Northwest  gen- 
erally, where  the  winters  are  severe  and  fuel  supply 
limited.  It  was  found  that  in  order  that  the  coal 
might  be  sold  at  a  sufficient  profit  to  the  dealer,  in 
competition  with  Eastern  coal,  the  railroad  would 
have  to  carry  it  648  miles  for  not  more  than  $2.10 
per  ton.  It  was  impossible  to  do  this  at  a  profit  to 
the  railroad,  on  a  road  full  of  heavy  grades.  So 
$5,000,000  was  expended  in  putting  the  road  in 
shape.  New  engines  and  high  capacity  cars  for 
the  coal  trade  were  purchased  and  a  business  was 
created  which  in  full  trains  paid  a  fair  profit.  Of 
course  a  small  army  of  employees  was  put  to  work 
in  handling  this  traffic. 

But  no  sooner  was  the  business  on  some  kind 
of  a  paying  basis  than  some  one  discovered  that  if 
you  could  compel  the  railroad  to  haul  shorter  trains 
it  would  mean  the  employment  of  more  help.  So 


LABOR,   AUTHORITY  AND  RAILROADS    163 

legislation  was  immediately  introduced  to  secure 
this  result.  The  men  who  are  supposed  to  have  the 
interest  of  the  employee  at  heart  are  at  the  bottom 
of  this  suicidal  legislation.  In  describing  his  efforts 
in  building  up  the  coal  business  to  a  meeting  of 
the  Burlington  employees  some  time  agoVice-Pre- 
sident  Willard  summed  up  the  situation  in  these 
words :  "  With  the  mere  possibility  of  such  legis- 
lation looming  up  in  the  future,  can  you  expect 
improvements  like  this  to  continue?  Would  you 
recommend  them  if  in  my  place  ? " 

This  antagonistic  legislation  will  continue  to 
paralyze  management  just  as  long  as  employees 
allow  certain  of  their  leaders  to  raise  false  issues 
and  misrepresent  the  real  interests  of  the  worker 
and  the  community. 

Brought  to  a  standstill  over  and  over  again,  and 
his  calculations  upset  by  legislation  of  this  nature, 
the  manager  has  no  alternative.  He  proceeds  to 
make  the  public  pay  for  it.  Hitherto  these  unfore- 
seen and  only  too  often  unnecessary  expenditures 
have  been  met  by  economies  secured  by  continually 
working  upon  the  principle  that  a  straight  line  is  the 
shortest  distance  between  two  points,  but  on  most 
railroads  this  mainstay  has  been  worked  to  the 
limit.  When  your  hill  has  been  leveled,  economy 
is  at  an  end  in  that  direction,  and  so  with  your 
curves,  you  cannot  keep  at  them  after  they  are 


164         LABOR  AND  THE  RAILROADS 

once  straight.  So  the  manager  falls  back  on  his 
contemplated  improvements.  New  stations,  bet- 
terments, conveniences,  and  facilities  of  various 
kinds  go  by  the  board.  Any  manager  can  give  a 
host  of  particulars  of  this  description.  It  is  now 
for  the  public  to  do  a  little  thinking  on  the  sub- 
ject. 

Of  course  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  Penn- 
sylvania Railroad  is  entirely  free  from  the  spirit 
and  perhaps  from  some  of  the  conditions  which  I 
have  described,  but  the  energy  with  which  the 
management  is  now  opposing  any  change  in  its 
long-established  policy  will  at  least  have  the  effect 
of  calling  public  attention  to  the  principles  at 
stake,  and  will  certainly  tend  to  modify  and  dis- 
courage some  of  the  extravagances  of  misguided 
labor  movements  on  other  railroads. 


CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U   .   S    .   A 


672775 


